Bill Nelson in Florida 2006 Senate Debate

On Tax Reform: National sales tax raises taxes $4,500 versus income tax

HARRIS: There would be a 22% decrease in prices because of embedded costs due to income taxes. The fair tax would not charge people at the poverty level, by paying a `prebate' so it's revenue-neutral. It would result in growth in our economy. Imagine keeping 100% of your paycheck, without withholding, and without 5 billion hours of tax compliance annually. It's worthy of debate.

Q: What's wrong with abolishing the IRS and going to a 23% sales tax?

NELSON: The average taxpayer would be paying $4,500 more per year in taxes under that plan than what they do now. 95% of all Americans would end up paying more tax under that plan.

On Energy & Oil: We can't drill, drill, drill our way to oil independence

HARRIS: There are a number of alternatives to drilling in the Gulf, including wind and solar and biofuels. But very importantly, if we don't want to drill in the Gulf, there's an enormous opportunity to drill in ANWR. It's the equivalent to having a football field and putting a postage stamp in the middle of it. That would supply the equivalent of 29 years of energy to Florida. Unfortunately, my opponent continues to vote against exciting opportunities like that.

NELSON: The problem with folks who want to drill, drill, drill is that the US only has 3% of the world's oil reserves but consumes 25% of the world's oil production. It doesn't take a mathematical genius to understand you can't drill your way out of the problem. You've got to go to the alternative sources, such as ethanol. Hybrids. Plug-in hybrids. Utilizing more conservation.

On Foreign Policy: Diplomacy first with N.Korea; keep military option on table

NELSON: The US has got to do everything possible to stop the continued nuclear program, through diplomacy particularly via China and South Korea. North Korea doesn't have a missile that is a threat to us at this point, but they can peddle those nuclear weapons. You put that in the hands of terrorist groups, and we have a whole new destabilization of the world. So at the end of the day the US has got to be successful.

HARRIS: Clearly, nuclear North Korea would be a danger to us. We will not negotiate bilaterally with terrorists. The former administration did so, and it was a failed strategy.

Q: At what point should we consider a military option?

NELSON: We don't want to have to use that option, because they have a million-man army. You do want to keep it on the table.

HARRIS: If the sanctions fail and none of the economic issue work, the final military option would be at stake.

On Free Trade: Pressure China on trade, coupled with North Korea resolution

NELSON: This is the one area that we have trade that we can use as a hook to put pressure on North Korea. And then we can address the balance of trade. One of the things is the way they value their currency. We have been putting pressure on China to re-evaluate so the goods will more normally flow according to their value. But because of our trade deficit, we can use this as leverage to get them to help with the nukes in North Korea, and that would be a good day's work.

HARRIS: The trade deficits have little to do with our interaction in North Korea. We've already had great success there in working with China, South Korea and Japan. They violate intellectual property rights every day. Every product that we market in China can be replicated in China, and it decimates us. We need to ensure that China honors those critical trade pacts. They need to play by the rules.

On Principles & Values: Focus on issues & doing our jobs, and we can get a lot done

On War & Peace: Political solution for Iraq, of 3-way partition

NELSON: There are no do-overs. What we ought to be focusing on is, What are we going to do for the future? We ought to be recognizing that it isn't going to be a military solution, but a political solution. We ought to look at dividing the country in a tri-partite solution, Kurds in the north, Sunnis in the center, and Shiites in the south. But that political solution isn't going to work unless we get the world community, especially the Arab neighbors in the region, to enforce it and help pay for it. The US government is going to have to expend a lot of energy and diplomacy to make this happen, but that's what we owe to our 140,000 troops.

HARRIS: We must have a flexible strategy that guarantees our victory. If we follow the Democrat strategy of a cut-and-run, then our troops will have died in vain. The flexible strategy must be one from the military experts on the ground, not from the halls of Congress.