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Former Gov. Mark Warner urges independents and Republicans to support
Democratic candidate for the Senate Mark Warner speaks with students |
Former Democratic Gov. Mark Warner asked voters yesterday to cross party lines not only to support his U.S. Senate campaign but to help bring the nation together.
"Independents and Republicans, I would welcome your support," Warner told about 200 people who attended a luncheon in his honor at the Germanna Center for Advanced Technology in Culpeper.
"I'm independent-minded," he said, adding, "We need to say no to extremists on both sides."
Warner is seeking the seat now held by the retiring Sen. John Warner (no relation). Former Gov. Jim Gilmore and Del. Robert Marshall of Manassas are seeking the Republican nomination for the post.
Warner told the mixed, but mostly Democratic audience that he sees a "window of opportunity" for America after a new president--whoever that is--is inaugurated next January.
"This country needs a win and a sense that we can get things done," he said. "Americans are fed up. I don't think they trust either party."
Warner, who stressed his bipartisan efforts while serving as governor from 2002-06, said that if elected to the Senate in November, one of his goals would be to form a small group of senators from both parties that he called "the radical centers."
He said this core group could be key to bringing Americans together again and getting the country moving forward.
During his three-hour stay, Warner faced hard questions for both students in the classrooms he visited before the luncheon and members of the audience following his 20-minute speech.
He praised the "middle-college" concept and told the students that Congress "has not done what it should" for America's returning military veterans.
Warner called for tougher penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants but acknowledged that, "We are a nation of immigrants."
He said he favors requiring immigrants to prove that they had paid three years of taxes and spent five years in U.S. schools before being allowed to stay.
Warner responded to health-care questions by calling on the medical industry to come up with some kind of universal records system and urging drug companies to lower prescription costs.
And, he added, a key to making health care affordable to all Americans is to take long-term care out of the mainstream health-care system.
"They only way you're going to fix [health care] is with a bipartisan effort," Warner said.
Warner said his biggest concern is America's dependence on foreign oil and that the nation must buy crude from Middle Eastern countries that may be helping terrorists.
"We may well be funding both sides of this war," he said.
The former governor criticized President Bush's handling of the Iraq War, saying that the prospect of an American troop presence in that country for decades "is not the right approach."
He said he favors a gradual handing over of security to the Iraqi government but shied away from setting a timetable for that effort.
"But we need to start bringing our troops home," he said.
Donnie Johnston:
Email: djohnston@freelancestar.com
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Here's what Democratic Senate candidate Mark Warner had to say about other issues during his visit to Culpeper:
ON PRESIDENT BUSH'S RESPONSE TO 9/11, HURRICANE KATRINA
"He didn't use those moments of crisis to pull the country together." Warner added that Bush's most apparent leadership flaw is that, "He does not trust enough in the character Warner said he had no misgivings, adding that his wife and three daughters had "voted "On the night before the New Hampshire primary, when I could have been out knocking on doors in Manchester, I was with my youngest daughter and two of her friends at a Hannah Montana concert." ON RAISING $2.7 MILLION IN CAMPAIGN FUNDS IN THE FINAL QUARTER OF LAST YEAR"I'd love to find ways to make campaigns cheaper." ON BEING A VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OR MAKING A FUTURE PRESIDENTIAL BID"I'm a job applicant for the |
