INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
Democrats this campaign season have gleefully attacked as their Republican
opponents awkwardly try to distance themselves from Donald Trump, the
party’s provocative presidential nominee.
In Indiana, a
reliably red state, the opposite was true Tuesday during a U.S. Senate
debate between former Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh and GOP Congressman Todd
Young.
In fact, Trump’s
name wasn’t mentioned once.
Meanwhile Bayh
name-checked Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, while going to
great lengths to point out his differences with Democratic presidential
candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“I do have some
difference with Secretary Clinton, although I support her in the race,” Bayh
said during a news conference after the debate. “I don’t support her
position on the Iran nuclear deal. I don’t support her position on cap and
trade ... and I don’t support her tax increase proposal.”
Of Trump - who he
wouldn’t mention by name - Bayh said only: “Certainly some of the things
he’s said I would strongly disagree with, but I’ll let other people make
that judgment.”
The candidates
clashed repeatedly during what could be their only debate, with Young
arguing that Bayh accomplished little during his time as a senator. Young,
who was often the aggressor, also renewed his assaults on Bayh’s work in
Washington, D.C., since leaving the Senate six years ago.
“He’s all talk,”
Young said. “He spent our money ... stimulus, Obamacare, things that
Hoosiers don’t want. That’s the record of a D.C. insider.”
The Associated
Press previously reported Bayh conducted a job hunt in 2010, his final year
in office, meeting with leaders in the corporate and financial world while
casting votes that aligned with many of their priorities.
Bayh didn’t use the
debate stage to defend his post-Senate work, which has been the subject of
millions of dollars in attack ads from outside GOP groups including a group
tied to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the billionaire Koch
brothers.
Instead he referred
several times to popular programs he supported during his time as Indiana
governor from 1989 to 1997. Bayh also countered that he was proud to work
with Republican former Sen. Richard Lugar to support the 2008 auto bailout
that rescued carmakers General Motors and Chrysler.
“Congressman Young
said let ‘em go belly up,” Bayh said. “We don’t do that to our fellow
Hoosiers.”
The Indiana
campaign has become a key national race as Democrats try to capture the seat
now held by retiring Republican Sen. Dan Coats and overturn the GOP’s narrow
Senate majority.
Young frequently
faulted Bayh for voting in favor of President Barack Obama’s health care
law, arguing it has raised costs and hurt care in the state.
Young said Bayh
abandoned Indiana residents after not seeking re-election in 2010, then
collecting millions of dollars from various corporate jobs.
“Now, we can hold
you accountable in this election,” Young said pointedly toward Bayh.
Bayh countered that
he wants to fix parts of the health care overhaul and not allow insurance
companies freedom to cancel policies as before the law was adopted.
In addition, Bayh
said at least twice that the Republican push to repeal the health care
overhaul would threaten Pence’s Healthy Indiana Plan, which is Indiana’s
expansion of Medicaid under the program. Bayh maintained that would put the
insurance coverage for 350,000 Indiana residents at risk.
“This is something
that Gov. Pence did that I agree with, that Congressman Young wants to
undo,” Bayh said.
Bayh, the
Democrats’ prize Senate recruit, entered the race in July with a huge
fundraising lead over Young and sky-high name ID from his time as a popular
governor and senator.
But he’s been put
on the defensive over his post-Senate work for a Washington law firm and
private equity fund. Bayh earned nearly $6.3 million since the beginning of
2015, with about a third of the total coming from Apollo Global Management,
a self-described alternative investment manager based in New York, according
to financial disclosure records.
After the debate,
Bayh blamed Young for the combative tenor of the event, which also included
Libertarian candidate Lucy Brenton.
“He made so many
unfounded allegations tonight that it’s almost impossible to remember them
all,” Bayh said. “He seemed like he was kinda losing it there at the end.”