2004 Debate Two: Alan Keyes and Barack Obama

~ ILLINOIS SENATE RACE 2004 ~

DEBATE TWO:

ALAN KEYESBARACK OBAMA

2004 DEBATE TWO: ALAN KEYES AND BARACK OBAMA

AlanKeyes.com

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Alan Keyes and Barack Obama DebateSponsored by the League of Women Voters of Illinois

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October 21, 2004

Tonight's moderator, Ron Magers.RON MAGERS, ABC 7 NEWS ANCHOR: Good evening, and welcome to the first televiseddebate between the candidates for the U. S. Senate, from the state of Illinois. Tonight, thecandidates will debate the issues so that you, the voters, may make a more informed decisionwhen you vote on election day.Tonight's debate is produced with the cooperation of the League of Women Voters of Illinois,the Asian American Institute, the Chicago Urban League, and the Mikva Challenge GrantFoundation.To question our candidates tonight are WBEZ radio's political reporter, Carlos Hernandez-Gomez; ABC-7's political reporter, Andy Shaw; and Laura Washington, the Ida B. Wells BarnettProfessor, DePaul University, and contributing columnist for the

Chicago Sun-Times

.The candidates for U. S. Senate are Democratic candidate Barack Obama, and Alan Keyes, theRepublican candidate.We sincerely welcome you both, and we thank you very much for this opportunity. I apologizefor the raspiness of my voice tonight, but it is, after all, their voices that will count during thishour. Let us begin with those voices.Opening statements. By a drawing held earlier, Mr. Obama is first and, Mr. Obama, a minute,thirty seconds.BARACK OBAMA, (D) ILLINOIS U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: I want to thank Channel 7,and those who sponsored this wonderful debate tonight. I want to thank those of you who arewatching this evening.You know, I came to Chicago twenty years ago, to help communities that had been devastated bysteel plants that had closed. I worked with churches and community residents to bring job

2004 DEBATE TWO: ALAN KEYES AND BARACK OBAMA

AlanKeyes.com

~ 3 ~training programs to the unemployed, and to bring economic development to hard-hitneighborhoods.After law school, I worked as a civil rights attorney, helping to build affordable housing andcommunity health centers, and for the last eight years, I've worked as a state senator, focused onthe issues that are working, affecting working families all across the state of Illinois. I'veprovided tax relief to families that needed it, health care to those who didn't have it, and helpedto reform a death penalty system badly in need of repair.I accomplished these things by setting partisanship aside and seeking common ground. That'swhat you, the people of Illinois, have told me that you want—somebody who can reach out andfind practical solutions to the problems that we face.Now, my opponent in this race doesn't have a track record of service in Illinois. Instead, he talksabout a moral crusade, and labels those who disagree with him as sinners. I don't think that kindof talk is helpful, in terms of providing the sort of solutions that all of us are looking for. I think government works best when we focus on common solutions to the problems that we face asAmericans.I'm running for the United States Senate to save our jobs, our health care, our pensions, and ourdreams for college. And, working together, I'm absolutely certain we can accomplish all of thesetasks.MAGERS: Thank you, Mr. Obama. Mr. Keyes, your opening statement. A minute and a half.ALAN KEYES, (R) ILLINOIS U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: I think one of the things thatshocked me most when I first got involved in this race, was a line I read in a letter that SenatorObama had sent to Jack Ryan about the issue of debates, in which he said that there was, at stakein the race, no great issue of principle, such as that which had divided Abraham Lincoln andStephen Douglas in their famous debates here in Illinois.That showed a decided and total lack of understanding of what is at stake for the people of thisstate and, indeed, of our nation in issues like abortion, in issues like the defense of traditionalmarriage. In point of fact, the most important principle of our nation's life—that we are allcreated equal and endowed by our Creator, not by human choice, with our unalienable rights—isat stake in this election, as it was in the great election that was the dividing line between Lincolnand Douglas in 1858.I stand for the defense of innocent life. I stand for the defense of traditional marriage. I stand onthe platform of those great principles that Martin Luther King fought for, and that Frederick Douglass espoused, as they fought against great injustices.And I stand there not just for reasons of principle but because, for instance, in the black