Mark Kennedy in 2006 Minnesota Senate Debate

On Environment: League of Conservation Voters considers manure a toxic waste

As the Owatonna People's Press reported: "Kennedy came out swinging first, telling the crowd that Klobuchar is supported by an special interest group--the League of Conservation Voters, which he never named from the stage--that considers manure a toxic waste."

"I don't want to get into the manure here," I shot back, "but I don't think manure is a toxic waste." After the debate, I quipped: "If he wants to go down into the manure, I will go down with him."

The media couldn't help but take it from there. "Politicians spread manure at Farmfest," the headline in the Mankato Free Press reported after the debate. "Kennedy's manure spin just doesn't pass the smell test," Willmar's West Central Tribune chimed in. I couldn't have said it better myself.

On Tax Reform: 2006: No changes in tax rates, not even for very wealthy

I was ready for that line. During the campaign, I had laid out a plan to reduce the debt that included both spending cuts and a proposal to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the top 1 percent of the nation's earners. Kennedy would not agree to any changes in the tax rates, even for the very wealthy.

I hit back. Noting that I had just visited the State Fair's beer garden, where I'd heard one student tell another that the beer they'd been drinking was "all foam and no beer," I turned to Kennedy and said, "That's your economic plan, Congressman. It's all foam and no beer."

That got the crowd going, and the line played almost constantly on radio and TV for the next 24 hours.

On War & Peace: 2006: We've made some mistakes in Iraq, but stay the course

On Budget & Economy: Authored the line-item veto, to take out bills’ silly stuff

Q: But you voted for both those proposals.

KENNEDY: I voted for every single amendment to take out these crazy line items.

Q: But in final passage, those proposals were legislation you voted for.

KENNEDY: They were, because I support roads and key programs. But you ought not to hold a whole bill hostage because there’s silly stuff in it. We ought to have a line-item veto for the president to cut that junk out of there, hold Congress accountable, keep spending under control.

Q: But you have a Republican president, a Republican House, a Republican Senate, and you have an $8 trillion debt.

KENNEDY: I would like the president to take a little bit more leadership on spending. We do need to push forward and make sure that we have strong fiscal measures to keep spending under control.

On Foreign Policy: Use diplomacy and China to pressure North Korea on nukes

KENNEDY: We need to continue to ratchet up the diplomatic efforts. We also need to continue to push China. They have far more influence over North Korea.

Q: Pres. Bush said, “We will not tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea.” Do we hold him to his commitment?

KENNEDY: But he also said that we want to have a peaceful and diplomatic solution. So we have to push every channel we can to achieve it in a peaceful and diplomatic way, not taking anything off the table.

Q: If Bush leaves office with nuclear devices in North Korea, will it have been a failed policy?

KENNEDY: We need to take every step we can to prevent that from happening.

Q: If the North Koreans ignore the sanctions, what do we do?

KLOBUCHAR: We have to keep ratcheting things up. Keeping the military option on the table is key, but sanctions are the first step, Unlike how we handled Iraq or where it was “Go it alone,” we have to work with our allies.

On Homeland Security: Patriot Act allowed 5 years without terrorist attack

KLOBUCHAR: I support winning this war on terror by being smart, I supported the Patriot Act.

On Principles & Values: Votes for what’s best for MN, but with Bush 92% of the time

KENNEDY: I believe history is going to make that decision. This is a guy who’s human, like all of us. Has made mistakes, we’ve all made mistakes.

Q: And yet you supported the president 92% of the time [with your votes], according to Congressional Quarterly. Are you running as a George Bush Republican?

KENNEDY: I’m running as Mark Kennedy. My votes are based on what’s best for Minnesota families.

Q: But 92% of the time, you voted for President Bush.

KENNEDY: I don’t where they get those statistics, but they only take one out of 10 votes. But I can tell you there are things I disagree with the president on, whether it be No Child Left Behind that I voted against my first year in Congress, or ANWR. There are things that I agree with him on, that you get prosperity for our kids not by raising taxes but by keeping it low, and that we keep our families safe by being on the offense in the war on terror.

On Tax Reform: Tax relief was a reward for those who create jobs

KENNEDY: We have had six million new jobs. The economy was flat on its back after 9/11. We passed tax relief to reward people--to let them keep more of their hard-earned money. Families, small business, those that take risk and create jobs. Six million new jobs have been created. We cannot be raising taxes, putting this economy back on its back, and also not growing jobs.

On War & Peace: Wrong on prediction of significant troops home in 2006

KENNEDY: I said in February that we expected troops [to return home]. We have less troops, not as much [less] as I would like; we’ve run into tougher patches.

Q: Why can’t you say you were wrong?

KENNEDY: I was wrong in the significant number, I was right in terms of the fact that there are less troops

On War & Peace: We were over-optimistic, but making progress in Iraq

“On the whole, the trend [in Iraq] is very positive. Our troops face a collection of terrorists and thugs, of whom there are fewer each day.”

KENNEDY: Were we potentially a bit optimistic? Possibly. And we’ve seen more challenges than we expected, no question. But if you look at what’s happened, we have trained 300,000 Iraqi troops. We have a unity government.

Q: 10 months ago you said “Progress was clear, we’re making great strides.“ Why shouldn’t voters in Minnesota say, ”Kennedy is wearing rose-colored glasses and saying, ‘Everything’s fine. We’re making progress.’“

KENNEDY: I never said everything’s fine, but we are making progress.

Q: You said, ”It’s very positive“?

KENNEDY: Each year I go back to Iraq, I see a government that is further down the path of addressing serious issues. Their military is more fully developed and taking over more and more of the responsibilities for us.

On War & Peace: Stands by his vote for war in Iraq; no rewinding history

KENNEDY: We acted on the information that we knew at the time.

Q: But knowing what you know today, would you still vote?

KENNEDY: You can’t really play TiVo and rewind in the real world, but let me just say this: First of all, I stand by my vote. And second of all, we just got done talking about Korea. We just got done talking about consequences for actions. Seventeen UN resolutions. If we had let one of the top sponsors of terrorists, that was paying thousands of dollars to those families that had suicide bombers, if we had let 17 UN resolutions go by, what chance would we have of North Korea or China paying any attention to the resolution just passed yesterday?

Q: So you’d still go into Iraq?

KENNEDY: I stand by my vote. We can’t rewind. We acted on the information we knew at the time and acted correctly.

On War & Peace: Iraq is a central front in the war on terror

KLOBUCHAR: I have never been one to say “Bring them all home tomorrow.” We have to be responsible about how we bring our troops home.

KENNEDY: She’s also come out against a bill funding body armor for our troops that a majority of Democrats join me in supporting. We have no higher priority than to support our troops in time of war, and we have to win this war on terror.

KLOBUCHAR: Of course I support body armor for our troops, I support winning this war on terror by being smart. We need to transition to Iraqi governance.

On War & Peace: No specific timetable for withdrawal from Iraq

KENNEDY: I reject a specific timetable. At every stage along the way, we ought to say, “Is there adjustments we need to be making?’ We have been making adjustments. Ms. Klobuchar says the solution is diplomatic and political; but you can’t negotiate with people that are ruthless and glory in killing innocent women and children. We need to make sure that terrorists can’t win so that we can bring our troops home as quickly as possible.

Q: No matter how long it takes?

KENNEDY: We need to make sure that the terrorists can’t win. We cannot let Iraq became a sanctuary for terrorists.

Q: And you believe this war can be won militarily?

KENNEDY: There’s no question that we need to also prod the political forces within Iraq, as we have been. But, these are steps that need to be pushed politically, but they can’t be done if we’re saying, “We’re going to pull our troops away.”

KLOBUCHAR: This is just more of the same. We need to change course.

On War & Peace: We must win or terrorism will mushroom

KENNEDY: Let’s talk about what the 16 agencies said. They said that we are clearly activating terrorists in Iraq, having taken the challenge to them. But they also said we have to prevail. If we don’t prevail, it will greatly mushroom this threat, let it grow in size, and come to face our future generations. They said that if we, if we lose, that’s what will happen; if we win, we will greatly degrade what’s happening on the other side.