Over the past several weeks on Portsmouth Community Radio’s “Portside on the Pulse,” host and former State Rep. Burt Cohen (D - New Castle) has interviewed three of the Democratic candidates eyeing John Sununu’s Senate seat. The following interviews are excerpts from the program, which airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon to 1 p.m., on 106.1 FM.

Katrina Swett                        

BC: Most immediate on the landscape here was that decision by the U.S. Supreme Court about late-term abortions. The detractors would call it ‘partial birth’ abortions.

KS: Like, frankly, quite a strong majority of the American people, I am at a gut level kind of opposed to this late-term abortion. What I guess concerns me most about this recent decision is that the ban that was passed by the Senate included no health exception at all. I think most people you would talk to, they would say yes, this is a very disturbing procedure and we don’t want to see this taking place, except if it is the only safe option for the woman’s life, obviously, but also for their health. What we have is a decision that is, I think, quite a challenge to the longstanding Supreme Court precedent that abortion restrictions cannot unduly burden either a woman’s access to an abortion or put her health at severe risk. I think if we had a different composition in the U.S. Senate we could perhaps revisit that issue and pass a different bill, one that would provide a narrowly tailored health exception. You don’t want to put women’s health in severe and maybe even grave danger by absolutely eliminating a procedure that doctors say sometimes is necessary. In that very narrowly tailored set of cases, I think we could find common ground and that, frankly, the vast majority of the American people could agree on that.

BC: What is your position on the war in Iraq? How can we get the heck out of there?

KS: I was a candidate in 2002. That was really when the Congress was having this big debate as to whether or not to authorize the use of military force in Iraq, and like a lot of other people I believed what turned out to be very inaccurate and very misleading information about the threat that was posed. Back in 2002, like a lot of other people, I know Martha Fuller Clark, she was running in the first (Congressional District), and Jeanne Shaheen at that time was running for the Senate, and all three of us said that if we were there we think we would have probably voted to give the president that authority. In retrospect we were wrong, because the information was just not correct. I disagree now with my friend Joe Lieberman on the war. He is, I think, one of those who still feels that we need to try and pursue a military solution in Iraq, and I strongly believe that we have to shift to the diplomatic and the political front. I also think that as long as we continue to offer an open-ended, no-strings-attached commitment to the Iraqi government, they will not be able to find the political will to make the dramatic changes that need to be made in Iraq to stabilize that society and to give it a hopeful future. I am one of those who believe that the new Democratic leadership is on the right track both with their approach of requiring benchmarks and setting target dates to begin withdrawing American forces. I believe and hope there are enough people in Iraq who do not want to see their country spiral into even worse violence than it’s facing now, who understand that this is a country with significant oil wealth, with significant manpower wealth. It’s a well-educated country. There’s a lot that’s really good about Iraq, and they can build a good and a better future for themselves. We can’t do it for them.

BC: Do you have an answer on health care? How we can have better access to quality health care for everyone?

KS: I won’t be so bold as to say I have an answer. It’s a big, big question. The impetus for reform in the healthcare industry is coming from the business community. They have come to recognize that the way we are doing things now doesn’t serve their bottom line very well. I can’t tell you today what my solution is because I don’t have one, and it is, as you say, an enormously complex issue. I’m not inclined toward a single payer approach. In the past when I looked at it I felt that that was too radical of a shift for our system.

BC: Energy. On your website: ‘Invest in clean, renewable, safe, alternative energy sources.’ Does that include nuclear?

KS: We have to keep an open mind as to whether and how it should be included in that mix. As a matter of being responsible, we can’t completely take nuclear off the table, but I also think what we should focus on are that whole range of alternative energy sources other than nuclear—wind and solar and of course research into fuel cells and a whole range of other technologies.

Jay Buckey    

BC: The biggest issue of course is Iraq. Now, you’ve said on your Web site that, if I may quote, ‘We started a war without a clear understanding of what it would take to finish it.’ Could you explain what you mean by that?                             

JB: This is a very complex part of the world that is important to us for a variety of reasons. To go in as we did without really thinking through the different things that could happen was just such terrible planning. We seem to have strengthened Iran. If you go into a place like this and you don’t clearly establish authority, that could easily happen. Iraq was put together by the British in the 1920s. It’s never really been a cohesive country and people with expertise in the area knew that it might split apart and develop sectarian tensions and we really hadn’t thought that through. And then I guess the worst thing is that when things did happen, we didn’t respond to them. The administration continued to see things in a particular way and not adapt to reality and not be able to see the situation in front of them. It’s one thing to make a mistake, but it’s another thing to continue compounding it and not adapt to changing circumstances.

BC: When it comes to energy policy, what are your thoughts about what we can do specifically, what the government role should be with regard to creating a new energy policy that can help get us off this horrible addiction to oil?                  

JB: We just need to be moving forward a lot more aggressively in developing these alternative sources, funding the research that needs to be done, providing the environment where small companies that want to start doing solar cell installation or solar hot water or have a new idea for windmills. Those people need the environment to grow and develop. So we need to be creating a new energy economy. There are probably going to be subsidies as part of that. Clearly there may be use of the tax system. Also free market approaches are good if they can be made to work in particular ways. But all of those approaches, we will need to put those to bear on this problem because it’s important, because: A) we certainly don’t want to be last in the world. We want to lead this, not be behind on this effort because there is a lot of economic growth involved in being the leader in this field; B) It’s critical for our national security; and then C) Environmentally, we just know we can’t continue going down this path. So why invest so much in trying to prop up the old way of using energy? You know, the petroleum-based way. Why not get out ahead of what we are clearly going to have to do anyway, which is to find new ways to meet our energy needs.

BC: What could our policy be with regard to Afghanistan?                                                                                       

JB: That is very frustrating, because the decision to take troops and resources from Afghanistan and put them in Iraq was just a really bad decision. Rather then having one situation that was completely done right, meaning Afghanistan, we have two situations that are both done poorly. We are going to have to probably put more resources into Afghanistan. We can’t afford to have that country go back to being a hotbed of terrorism.

BC: Why is it that you could do a better job than John E. Sununu?                                                                          

JB: As far as I can tell he seems like a nice person. It’s not a personal thing. It’s a policy thing. He’s been there this amount of time and not really dealing with these issues that are coming down the pipe like energy. Not really adapting appropriately to the situation in Iraq. Basically letting the country float along without addressing these looming problems that we have to face. I certainly commend him for his position on Alberto Gonzalez. But overall we are just on a bad path as a nation and really, really need to get on top of this. This lockstep following of administration policies and not having any sort of thoughtful debate about issues that are obviously quite important. That’s not good. When did that become part of our political system? I just can’t believe these policies move forward without any kind of meaningful discussion. We could use more people with technical and scientific background in the Senate and that, I think, is going to be a key part of our economic success.

Steve Marchand 

SM: I think it’s important that the people that represent New Hampshire down in Washington represent the values of the people of New Hampshire. The way that Senator Sununu is representing New Hampshire runs contrary to what the values of most of the people of this state are, and I think that we need that change and we need it as soon as we can get it.

BC: What kind of values specifically does he represent that you think are at odds with the people of New Hampshire?SM: Most of the people of New Hampshire are fiscally responsible and they’re socially responsible. A lot of people want to express their anger about Iraq, they want to express their frustration with healthcare, and when you look at the votes that Senator Sununu has taken over the last 10, 11 years as a congressman and now as a senator, healthcare, the environment, Iraq, tax policy, stem cell research, choice, down the line. We believe in personal rights, personal freedom, we believe the government should not be in our personal lives. Senator Sununu talks that talk but the votes don’t represent it in a lot of cases.BC: He talks one thing but does something else, is that what you’re suggesting?

SM: I think on some key issues there is a track record of that, and I think on some other issues he has been extremely consistent in his position. Unfortunately, I think the position is 180 degrees from where we need to go and from where people in New Hampshire generally are. I think that Senator Sununu is seen as a very vulnerable incumbent in the next election.

BC: Yeah, it seems like he’s got a big target painted on his back and he knows it.                                                  

SM: The reason for that in large part is because President Bush’s unpopularity here translates very directly to challenges Senator Sununu is going to face. The one that people want to talk about the most, I would say, because it’s in our face every day, is Iraq. Senator Sununu is the only one who continues to say, troop surge, support it. Staying in there until the job is quote unquote done, which would be in my opinion an indefinite and in all likelihood an unachievable task to just stay in there indefinitely. That’s the president’s position, it’s John Sununu’s position, it’s the wrong position, it’s the wrong policy, it’s the wrong politics, and I think it’s important for the people of New Hampshire to express that in the ballot box next November.

BC: What would your position be on the war in Iraq?                                                                                            

SM: We need to start getting troops out of there this year, and getting that military operation, I would say, over the next couple of years or so, draw that down in a way that minimizes instability in the country. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but we need to begin that process now. We authorized this effort back in 2002 based on a certain set of conditions. Frankly, a certain set of conditions that were not true. It is our responsibility as a Senate to de-authorize it and say whoa, the mission that we said as a Senate at the time rightly or wrongly would be authorizable, we are de-authorizing. President Bush calls it un-American. It would be un-American to not have the Senate exercise accountability. That’s what government’s supposed to be, that’s the structure. That’s our job. I think that’s American. That’s uniquely American.

BC: Close second to Iraq in terms of what people care about, what their most important issue is: health care.            

SM: The three top issues that come up: Iraq, health care and what I’ll call environmental/energy policy. So when I hear John Sununu say, ‘We worked on it, it’s a hard issue, we’re doing what we can, we need to stop complaining about it and move on to something else that we can do something about.’ It’s bad for the economy.

BC: What is your position on choice?

SM: I believe it’s a personal decision. If it is not an option, I think that we put women around the country in significant harm’s way. I am the only 100 percent pro-choice candidate running for the United States Senate in 2008. Out of the three people, I’m the only one that’s held office, which I think is a powerful asset, as well—to go down there and get that running start that I think they’re going to expect from any of us.