Thorne-Begland case enters GOP U.S. Senate debate

Falls Church, Va. --

Less than three weeks from the June 12 primary, the four candidates vying for Virginia's Republican U.S. Senate nomination made their closing arguments Friday night at the party's third and final debate.

Perhaps the most interesting moments of the debate before nearly 500 at the Fairview Park Marriott involved the House of Delegates' recent denial of a judgeship to Richmond prosecutor Tracy Thorne-Begland. He would have become the state's first openly gay judge.

Moderator Bob Holsworth asked the three other GOP Senate candidates if they agreed with Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, who had led the charge against Thorne-Begland in the legislature. Marshall says Thorne-Begland, a former Navy officer, was an activist who showed bias by publicly opposing the now-defunct policy known as don't ask, don't tell.

Chesapeake minister E.W. Jackson and tea party activist Jamie Radtke of Chesterfield County unequivocally backed Marshall Friday night.

"The biggest threat that we have facing this country is activist judges," Radtke said, claiming that the activism of a homosexual judge was responsible for same-sex marriage being legal in California though voters had rejected it twice.

Jackson said that if Democratic nominee Timothy M. Kaine is elected, he would fight for "just that kind of judge" to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Former Gov. George Allen's response to the question about Thorne-Begland was more ambiguous.

"Sexual orientation in my view is not a criteria for qualifying or disqualifying a judge," he said, adding: "I don't want activist judges."

Allen said he had not had the opportunity to examine Thorne-Begland's record but added that he had "trust and respect" for the decision made by Del. L. Mark Dudenhefer, R-Stafford, a former Marine officer who opposed the appointment on the grounds that Thorne-Begland had violated military rules by openly opposing don't ask, don't tell.

Marshall criticized Allen for not directly answering the question and touted what he termed his long record of standing up to both parties and starting fights.

"Frankly, folks, I went to a thug high school," he said.

Aside from the Thorne-Begland exchange, fireworks were few and far between at the event, a debate that was tame compared with the GOP candidates' aggressive encounter in Virginia Beach two weeks ago.

While the candidates agreed on most policy issues like the concept of a flat tax and state control of higher education funding, Marshall took a decidedly different tack from the others, hammering on social issues throughout the debate.

In his opening remarks, Marshall said that President Barack Obama and Kaine "demand that religiously affiliated citizens participate in the direct killing of pre-born children by compulsory purchase of abortion-inducing contraceptives" and pledging "resistance."

Allen, who remained largely positive, took a few shots from Radtke, who attacked his record as a U.S. senator and specifically his support for Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit that has added annually to the deficit.

"We cannot have somebody ? that's been a senator who voted for the largest expansion of entitlements since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society," she said in response to a question on health care. "That is not credibility on the issue."

Allen, the front-runner by a wide margin, stuck with a general election-focused message, frequently attacking Kaine and Obama.

Asked what policies and regulations he would like to shed, Allen cited, among other things, "the mountains of regulations emanating from 'Obamacare' which Tim Kaine calls, quote, a great achievement."

He was not alone in taking aim at Kaine and Obama and bypassing Republican opponents.

Jackson, who turned in another impassioned performance, kicked off the debate by declaring: "It is time for us to end the tenure of King Barack and send him back to where he came from."

In closing, Jackson brought down the house saying he was not interested in fighting his fellow GOP candidates, adding: "But I'm here to declare war on Tim Kaine and Barack Obama."

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