2012 Hawaii Senate Debates: on Education


Linda Lingle: I support PBS, but Big Bird is not essential to America

Hirono and Lingle don't agree on much in their race for US Senate, but they both like Big Bird. The "Sesame Street" icon-turned 2012 political hot topic played an upfront role in a freewheeling debate. The debate began with the moderator bringing out a stuffed doll of Big Bird and asking if cuts to PBS are serious.

Lingle at first said she's friends with the chief executive of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and that she's been a supporter of PBS, backing off remarks from a previous debate that PBS should be considered for cuts along with other programs if they're not deemed essential.

"Linda seems to have changed her mind," Hirono said. Lingle then clarified her previous comments, saying she was talking about PBS in the context of the rest of the nation's spending.

"It's going to be very important for people to look across the spectrum of how we spend our money and set some priorities," Lingle said. "I did say I'm not sure that Big Bird is essential to the defense of America."

Source: Reuters on 2012 Hawaii Senate debate Oct 20, 2012

  • The above quotations are from 2012 Hawaii Senate Debate.
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Candidates and political leaders on Education:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R)
Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R)
Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Dec 04, 2018