Mark Warner leads by double digits in every public poll of the Virginia Senate race. Warner comes out swinging in debate

Sen. Mark Warner leads by double digits in every public poll of the Virginia Senate race, but the Democrat didn’t debate Saturday with the confidence of someone cruising to reelection.

Virginia voters weren’t actually watching his first debate with Republican Ed Gillespie. Fewer than 800 people were tuned into PBS’s livestream, and the debate, which was actually held across the border in West Virginia, won’t be aired in full on any of the television affiliates that cover the Old Dominion. That’s good news for a senator who led by 25 points in a Roanoke College poll published this week.


The incumbent came out swinging early and often in a 90-minute debate at the Greenbrier Resort. When Republican Ed Gillespie attacked him for voting 97 percent of the time with President Barack Obama, Warner fired back with criticism of his work in George W. Bush’s White House and as a lobbyist for Enron.

Warner might even have overreached by claiming, without direct evidence, that Gillespie supports so-called Personhood legislation.

“He’s spent his entire career as a D.C. lobbyist and a partisan operative,” Warner said. “He even went on TV and called himself a ‘partisan warrior.’ His words; not mine. … The last thing Washington needs is another partisan warrior.”

( Also on POLITICO: Dem PAC: Obama 'could hurt' Warner)

The first — and possibly only — debate of the contest gave Gillespie the chance to show that this race should be higher on the list of potential GOP pick-up opportunities. The former chairman of the Republican National Committee fiercely challenged Warner’s claims to independence, calling him a “blank check” for Obama.

“His press releases are very bipartisan, but his floor votes are very partisan,” said Gillespie. “Governor Warner wouldn’t recognize Senator Warner today.”

Moderator Judy Woodruff, the PBS anchor, flushed out the candidates on a range of issues where they differ, from the Export-Import bank to EPA regulations and gay marriage. It was much more civil than the gubernatorial debate the Virginia Bar Association sponsored last summer, and both candidates came across at their best.

Here are the 10 key flashpoints from the showdown in White Sulphur Springs:

Gillespie advocated for over-the-counter sale of contraception:

Social issues did not come up until the final question. Speaking about the Hobby Lobby case involving employer-sponsored contraception, Gillespie said he thinks the issue can be skirted if women are just allowed to buy birth-control medication on their own without a prescription — a position that Colorado GOP Senate candidate Cory Gardner also staked out recently.

Gillespie does not have a long paper trail on abortion issues, and he pushed back when Warner said he would overturn Roe vs. Wade or push a Personhood amendment, which would say life begins at conception.

( Also on POLITICO: Gillespie: Warner prez's 'blank check')

“Please provide the documentation for my support of any of those things,” Gillespie said.

Warner countered: “If you are in the Senate, would you vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade? Did you not also support a personhood amendment?”

“No,” Gillespie replied. “When did I support a Personhood amendment?”

“We’ll get you the documentation,” Warner said.

“There’s not going to be a vote to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Gillespie said. “That’s a Supreme Court decision. I’m running for the United States Senate.”

“The folks who endorsed him in the right to life movement I think will be very surprised to hear that,” Warner said.

Gillespie cut him off. “I’m going to go through and look at the folks who endorsed you and we’ll find out what positions they have.”

The Warner campaign’s evidence that Gillespie supports Personhood is thin. They point to the platform passed by the Republican National Committee in 2004, when Gillespie was party chairman. “Gillespie chose the platform director and said the platform reflects the ‘beliefs of our party,’” Warner’s campaign emailed after.

Warner denied that he’s a rubber stamp for Obama:

The senator said that his Republican predecessor, John Warner, would not have endorsed him if he always voted with the president.

Warner stressed that he differs with the president on the Keystone pipeline and other issues. “I think the president should have acted sooner and tougher with sanctions on Russia,” Warner said.

Gillespie ducked a question from Woodruff about his tenure as a senior counselor in the Bush White House, and Warner pounced.

( Also on POLITICO: How Gillespie could pull off an upset)

“What I didn’t hear from my opponent was an acknowledgement that he was a cheerleader for the Bush-Cheney economic agenda,” he said, noting that debt increased by 86 percent during the previous administration.

“My opponent criticizes the president,” Warner said later, “but he was part of the Bush-Cheney administration and was an advocate for the movement into Iraq.”

Gillespie defended his work as a lobbyist:

When the senator got a chance to ask Gillespie a question, he asked whether his lobbying firm was right to keep the $700,000 it collected from Enron.

“You were the lead lobbyist for Enron, who committed the greatest corporate fraud in American history,” said Warner.

Gillespie said he did not know Enron was cooking the books.

“It was a year-long contract, but it was only 10 months because two days after Ken Lay pleaded the Fifth, we said, ‘This is not the company we thought it was … and we left them,’” Gillespie said.

Warner defended his support for Obamacare:

When Gillespie asked Warner whether he would vote for the bill again, the senator said the law needs to be “fixed” – not repealed. Then he accused his challenger of not laying out specifics for what he would do on health care.

“Before there was Obamacare or Romneycare, there was Gillespiecare,” said Warner, referring to a corporate client that he had. “My opponent was a big supporter of the individual mandate. … Somehow he seems to have forgotten that.”

Gillespie denied that he ever called for an individual mandate. “I fought Obamcare every step of the way,” he said, while Warner “strong-armed” Democratic colleagues into voting yes.

Warner avoided taking a position on the new EPA regulations:

The senator twice dodged, saying that he needs to wait until the end of a comment period to know if he can back the controversial rules designed to cut coal production.

“I support all of the above, including coal,” said Warner. “We’ve got to find ways to use it cleaner. … We asked for additional time so we can really try to get ‘em right.”

After Gillespie strongly opposed the EPA regulations, Warner attacked him for lobbying against increased fuel-efficiency standards.

Gillespie acknowledged that humans contribute to climate change:

Before he secured the Republican nomination at a convention in Roanoke last month, Gillespie ducked when asked on a conference call with reporters if he thinks humans contribute to climate change.

“I believe there’s ample scientific evidence that man contributes to climate change,” he said Saturday. “But I’m not just entirely dismissive … against those who have a different point of view.”

Gillespie cited rising sea levels in Norfolk, though he added, “People can debate what contributes to that or not.”

Both men agreed that migrant children should be sent back to Central America:

Gillespie declined to take a position on the bill introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), which would prohibit any further expansion of Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that shields some young undocumented immigrants from deportation.

“I have not seen the bill,” said Gillespie. “I haven’t seen Sen. Cruz’s bill, but I think President Obama overreached … and we’re seeing the consequences today.”

“The compassionate response is to make clear, ‘Don’t keep doing this, don’t keep sending these children here, because they are not going to be afforded American citizenship,’” he added. “The most compassionate thing we can do is … for them to return to their parents.”

Warner emphasized the need to speed up the processing of these children, but he said “many of these children will be sent home.”

“That process will result in some of those kids going back, but there ought to be a process,” he said.

Gillespie cited opposition to the Export-Import Bank as evidence of his independence:

Warner noted that the Republican-leaning National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce both support renewing the Export-Import Bank.

“It supports American businesses in a global economy, giving them a financial backstop,” he said.

Gillespie noted that he understands the arguments for the bank. “I have a lot of friends who support the Export-Import bank, believe me,” he said. “I think it’s an area where we can get some savings.”

“I know it’s hard to stand up to the Chamber of Commerce [and] the National Association of Manufacturers,” Gillespie added, but that’s the job of a senator.”

Gillespie reiterated his personal opposition to same-sex marriage, but he said it is a state issue:

“I respect and love people for who they are,” the Republican said. “I believe marriage is between one man and one woman. But I also believe that as a senator, it’s not my role to legislate on that.”

Pressed, he said he would vote no if a statewide referendum came up to repeal the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Warner switched his position to endorse gay marriage in March 2013.

There was general agreement on foreign policy:

Both Warner and Gillespie agreed that the U.S. should never take military action off the table against Iran, and that Israel is America’s closest ally in the Middle East.

On keeping troops in Afghanistan, Woodruff asked whether Gillespie is closer to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) or Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

He did not directly answer, but he sounded a lot closer to the McCain view in arguing that troops should be there “as long as they’re serving our national security interests.”

Warner said he thinks Colin Powell was right when he said “you break it, you own it.”

“Pottery Barn,” Gillespie interjected.

“That’s right,” Warner said.

“I’m here to help,” said Gillespie.