In Duluth debate, McFadden tries to cast Franken as rubber stamp for Obama

In their first one-on-one debate before the November election, U.S. Sen. Al Franken and his Republican challenger, businessman Mike McFadden, on Wednesday repeatedly took each other to task on domestic policy and foreign affairs.

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But McFadden was clearly the more aggressive of the two. During an hour-long sparring session, he repeatedly sought to portray Franken as the most-partisan senator in Washington.

As he has since launching his campaign more than a year ago, McFadden accused Franken of supporting President Barack Obama at the expense of the economic recovery.

Franken, who defended his record, accused McFadden of "cherry picking" statistics and mocked the Republican's line of attack.

The debate began with McFadden briefly thanking Franken for his service and cordially noting that Franken and his wife, Franni, would soon celebrate a wedding anniversary. With those pleasantries aside, McFadden quickly settled into what would be his main debate them: Franken is a rubber stamp for the president.

"I am running against someone, Al Franken, who has voted with President Obama 97 percent of the time," McFadden said. "And as I've traveled across our great state what I hear consistently is people don't believe that the president is leading in the right direction."

McFadden later accused Franken of becoming "Washingtontized."

From energy policy to environmental oversight to the Affordable Care Act, McFadden criticized Franken as part of the problem in Washington, not someone who has worked across party lines to improve people's lives.

"I believe that the biggest single issue in this country is we've created this professional class of politician and it's killing us," McFadden said. "And I believe in six years that Sen. Franken has become part of that professional class. He has voted with the president 97 percent of the time."

Franken insisted he votes in the best interests of Minnesotans and he listed off a number of times he worked on legislation with Republicans.

He accused McFadden of using statistics to misrepresent his record.

"Look you can slice and dice these numbers anyway you want and come up with things that say pretty ridiculous things, but I've worked for Minnesota every day that I'm there and I'm proud to do that."

Franken countered McFadden's repeated use of the 97 percent figure with humor.

"What was that number?" asked Franken.

"97 percent of the time," said McFadden.

"Let me write that down or I'll forget it," Franken replied.

A core issue in McFadden's campaign has been his call to expand U.S. energy production. He tells voters that increasing domestic oil and natural gas production would dramatically reduce energy costs for individuals and businesses, freeing up money to spend and invest.

When asked about railroad congestion resulting from transporting so much oil on railroads, McFadden said Franken and other Democrats are to blame for not pushing through pipeline projects like the Keystone Pipeline.

"And until you start passing pipelines, we're going to have a rail car shortage. I know how to fix this economy. I know how to get us back on the road to growth and prosperity," McFadden said. "And you are putting Band-Aids on as opposed to going to the root causes. We need pipelines in this country. I want everyone to know in this room and in this state that I am for pipelines. I will get them built."

Franken clarified his position on Keystone.

"What I voted is to not circumvent the regulatory process on Keystone."

Franken then skewered McFadden for telling reporters in August that it would be OK to build the Keystone pipeline with Chinese steel if it would be less expensive than using U.S. steel. Franken authored an amendment that would require U.S. steel should the project win approval.

When the discussion turned to whether PolyMet Mining should be allowed to open a copper-nickel mine on the Iron Range, McFadden called it "crazy" that after nine years and $200 million dollars the company still does not a decision from regulators. He blamed Franken for not trying to push it through.

"He has done nothing in six years to accelerate the review process of PolyMet," McFadden said of Franken. "He's written multiple times to the FCC and the FEC on communication issues but he has not fought for miners and he won't because he is connected at the hip to extreme environmentalists."

Franken said he is in regular contact with PolyMet and that oversight has improved the mining proposal.

"It's too important not to get this right. We need to get this right. Talk to the range delegation, the state legislators in the delegation," Franken said. "They get elected by the people on the range. They want sustainable mining. They want to make sure that this is done right. And if it is done right, then this will be sustainable."

When the debate turned o health care, McFadden said the Affordable Care Act pushed through by Democrats is hurting Minnesotans and should be scrapped in favor of state-based health care initiatives.

"Al, let's be absolutely clear," McFadden said. "Obamacare is a train wreck."

Franken said the law has decreased the number of uninsured Minnesotans by 40 percent and he suggested replacing it would be impossible in the sharply divided Congress. He said repealing it would mean throwing out popular things the law does such as banning lifetime limits on insurance benefits and letting children stay on their parents plans until age 26.

"Do you think that this Congress now, as gridlocked as it is," Franken said, "is actually going to come up with health care plan that gives people guarantees if they have preexisting conditions and all the other stuff that we have seen?"

Although most of the debate centered on domestic issues, Franken and McFadden also talked about the threat Islamic extremists pose.

McFadden talked about the Minnesotans who have gone overseas to fight for terrorist groups and suggested Franken has only recently gotten involved to try to stop it.

"This recruiting started in 2008 (and) 2009 with al-Shabab and it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that Al Franken sent a letter to the Attorney General," McFadden said. "A letter! I mean after this has been going for multiple years. That's a day late and a dollar short, as my dad used to say."

Franken said he's been working with law enforcement and community leaders on the issue since his first days in office. He then took McFadden to task for ducking questions as he campaigned for Senate a year ago about how the United States should respond to the Syrian government attacking its own citizens with chemical weapons.

"It is easy to score political points from the bleachers," Franken said. "This is a serious job. You've got to make real choices in real time. Understand this: Every Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate was asked by MPR what they would do in Syria and Mr. McFadden blinked."

Franken and McFadden will meet for two more debates before Election Day.

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and his two principal opponents, Republican nominee Jeff Johnson and Independence Party candidate Hannah Nicollet meet for their first debate this evening in Rochester.