PORT ANGELES — U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks and challenger Doug Cloud faced off Thursday night on the war in Iraq, prescription drugs and government programs in their only appearance together during the 6th Congressional District campaign.
The men disagreed on how to handle Social Security and ensure its existence for future generations.
“I am not for privatization,” said Dicks, D-Bremerton, bucking a Bush administration proposal to invest part of the Social Security fund in the stock market.
“Congressman Dicks just said he knows better what to do with your money than you do, and that’s where we differ,” said Cloud, a Gig Harbor lawyer, in one of their few clashes during the forum.
About 30 people turned out to see Dicks, a 28-year veteran of Congress, and Cloud, a Republican political newcomer, during the hour-long videotaped forum at the Clallam County Courthouse, hosted by Peninsula New Network anchor Dennis Bragg, with Peninsula Daily News Executive Editor Rex Wilson and Commentary Page Editor Paul Gottlieb also on the panel.
The program will air at 7 p.m. Monday on Wave Broadband cable Channel 3 in Port Angeles and Sequim areas.
No showings in the Jefferson County and West End areas, served by another cable TV system, are scheduled.
Campaign supporters
Several people stood on the sidewalk outside the courthouse prior to the forum, holding signs supporting Dicks’ campaign.
Inside, the candidates touched on hot-button issues facing the nation.
Dicks, 63, who voted for sending troops into Iraq in 2003, said there probably would have been no vote if Congress and the world knew there were no real weapons of mass destruction and no link to al-Qaida there.
“I don’t regret the vote,” Dicks said.
“I regret the fact that we didn’t have our intelligence right.”
Cloud, 47, said if he were in the House at the time of the vote, he probably would not have supported the war, “just because I’m a small government kind of guy.”
“I feel that when you go to war, it better be a deep-felt gut feeling,” he said.
“I didn’t have it.”
