Small clash marks lackluster Democratic debate

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- It was a small nuclear war at the Democratic presidential debate Sunday night as the five candidates had a small clash on nuclear energy, in an otherwise lackluster debate. Former California Gov. Jerry Brown began the fight, which ended as a gang-up against current front-runner, former Massachussetts Sen. Paul Tsongas, when he questioned Tsongas' call for more nuclear energy. Earlier in the debate, Tsongas said that to protect the environment, he would base his policy on conservation, recyclables and natural gas, and for the rest he would turn to nuclear energy. After Brown alleged that Tsongas had not helped a whistle-blower at a nuclear power plant, Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey jumped in. "We're not saying you were wrong all the time, but on this issue, we think you are," Kerrey said. The conciliatory tone towards Tsongas was apparent throughout the debate, which was sponsored by Cable News Network and the League of Women Voters and moderated by CNN anchor Bernard Shaw. In response to a question by CNN's Ken Bode, Kerrey used a campaign line from Tsongas's policy manual. "I'm afraid it was actually Paul Tsongas who said that 'the Cold War is over and Japan and Germany won,' " he said. "I wish I had thought of that before. It's a great line." Then Brown endorsed Tsongas as the conservative alternative to himself. "Mr. Tsongas, I believe, represents a more conservative, alternative, business-oriented view of the future," he said. Looking past the "nuclear skirmish," the debate focused on the economic future of the country. Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin was one of the candidates who stressed the need to take money from the military and use it to build the economy. "Let's start converting our military-industrial complex to meet the needy of the future," he said. Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton defended a middle-class tax cut, charging that this point is crucial to his economic policy. "I want to make a down-payment on fairness and also to preserve the capacity of middle-class people to consume," he said. After the debate, Tsongas and Brown faced the press, while Kerrey attempted to make his way to the set-up podium, becoming entrenched at the door by pushy photographers and reporters. Standing at the side of the crowd was Democratic National Committee Chairperson Ron Brown, who said he was pleased with the debate. "If George Bush was in the debate, he would have finished sixth," he said. Brown also repeatedly stressed that the "next presidential candidate is going to be from this field," shrugging off rumors that other Democrats may throw their hats in the ring. The debate may have been great from the Democrats' point of view, but many in the media, who saw the debate from a media center, were not particularly excited. Saturday Night Live contributor and writer Al Franken summed up the feelings when he said it was "really boring." The Democratic debate may have been unexciting and generated little controversy, but on the Republican side, the situation is different as challenger Pat Buchanan has had to face protests on his campaign stops. Rabbi Avi Weiss, a noted Jewish activist, and several others have dressed themselves in concentration camp uniforms and put on signs such as "Buchanan is Duke without the sheet" to protest what they feel is Buchanan's evident anti-semitism. "Buchanan is not a great civil libertarian, but somehow he has great sympathy for Nazis," Weiss said yesterday as he protested at a Buchanan rally in Londonderry. The protesters said they have been openly harassed by Buchanan supporters, who have chased them around, covering the inflammatory signs with "Buchanan for President."

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