Debate. The main senate at 10 00 it is the texas Senate Debate. On thursday it is the illinois governors debate. At 10 00 the New HampshireSenate Debate between senator Jeanne Shaheen and scott brown. The New Hampshire governors debate between governor maggie havenstein. Alt at 10 00 the south dakota Senate Debate. Cspan campaign 2014, 100 debates for the control of congress. Carolina senator tim scott is running against Joyce Dickerson and jill bossi. Scott was appointed to the seat after the resignation of jim demint. This is courtesy of South Carolina educational tv. Program is made possible by aarp South Carolina. The greenville news, florenceon with the morning news, the sun news of myrtle beach, the herald of rock hill. , rock candidates for u. S. Senate. And now your moderator. Good evening. Welcome to tonights debate for the senate term. We want to welcome our radio listeners. Joining us, andrew shane of the state newspaper. The candidates are tim scott, the republican senator from charleston. Joyce dickerson, the democrats and jill bossi. Have 90didate will questions. Respond to if necessary i will out a 32nd rebuttal. Names with the candidates arrived for the order. Good evening. Thank you for hosting tonights debate. I am grateful the people of South Carolina afforded me the opportunity to serve them from county council to the statehouse, and now the United States senate. It is one of the greatest honors of my life. Im here tonight because life has not always been easy. I have learned important lessons and met remarkable people, and have benefited from the strength and blessings of the great state of South Carolina. Our nation faces many challenges today. I prefer to see them as opportunities. I believe the best is yet to come. My commitment to you is simple. I will work day, afford South Carolinas opportunities to succeed. I focus on education and jobs. I believe we will have the tools necessary to succeed. God bless you. Thank you and good evening. Y name is jill bossi i am not a democrat, i am not a republican. I am an american. Out of manym, one. We need to take control of our government from career politicians like my opponents to take their orders from special interests and big money. Tonight you have the opportunity to interview all three candidates and determine who is the best candidate for the role of u. S. Senator. I hope to demonstrate that i am not bound by party, money, radiology. And i public servant, hope to demonstrate my ideas of what is broken in america. I want a better america for our future, a strong economy, Strong Military, term limits, Campaign Finance reform, and tax reform. Im asking for your vote and i hope tonight you will make a decision on the person and not the party. Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you for having us. We are so grateful. I am running for the United States senate because i believe that this is a humbling opportunity for me to present to the people of South Carolina a new idea, new person who will always be there for them, who will stand for them, who will want to serve them in every way they possibly can. I am focused on our seniors, i am focused on our veterans, and i am focused on womens issues. Those are the main issues i will be focusing on tonight. I believe this is the greatest opportunity for me to represent the people of this state and the nation. I am here tonight to ask for the people of South Carolina for your vote and for your support on november 4. Thank you. Let me start with you senator scott. You have a free pass to the senate. You didnt have to run the state and now you are running statewide for the first time. Why should you have the benefit of incumbency . I dont think i should have i dont think the benefit of incumbency is what it used to be. I have spent monday through thursday in washington, i come back home every weekend to go to my own church, hanging with my grandfather, take my mom to lunch. These are the reasons why i serve. I look at my nephew and say to myself i can prepare a future for him. Up with thei came opportunity agenda that focuses on education, skills in the workplace, and focuses on allowing people to earn while they learn. People that Like Washington are very few. It wasnt for relatives are not sure we would be popular at all. The truth of the matter is incumbency has major negatives. To not running on the fact that i am in Office Running on the fact that i love South Carolina. I have benefited from being a n. Uth carolina me, anding strong with forcing me to look in the m irror and take responsibility. I am running because it is an opportunity to continue to serve from my days on county counsel, being elected twice to congress, and now having opportunity to ask you for your vote to the United States senate. Let me ask a different version of what is essentially the same question to the two of you. Senator scott has the tenuous hold on incumbency. But he does have one thing to experience that you dont. Why should South Carolina voters give that up . I think what we have to understand is that a lot of the voters these days dont like what is going on in washington. They are asking for something to change. It doesnt matter whether they are on the right or left. I think the majority of americans are somewhere in the middle. What we have seen the one in washington with the gridlock, with hyper partisanship, with of fighting, it is not short untenable for us as citizens to accept that this is what we are paying our representatives to do. But we want our representatives to do is go to washington dc, sit down, negotiate, talk, find withto fix what is broken america. Weve got a 17. 6 trillion debt. Weve got an economy that is struggling along. We need to restore the middle class. They have been eviscerated by the great recession. We have got to work for our veterans. We have to work with our military. I have three of my four children served in the military or are serving in the military. We have a lot of work to do. I have two sons who are still in active duty and could be called at any time. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. Much on hows too long they have been there. I am a big supporter of term limits and Campaign Finance reform. That is why i am here. Same question. I am here because i believe in the people of South Carolina. I believe it is time for change and people are looking for a person that will have their interest. I am here because people have asked me as i have traveled all 46 counties in, this state, i have listened to the people, i have heard them talk around their kitchen table, saying how they are having a hard time making ends meet. Im hearing people say they are kicked off their insurance. I am hearing people all over this county talk about what they need and how washington is broken and how we need to fix it. For new peopleg with new ideas, to go there, to help them be their voice, someone who will listen to them and take their interest to heart. This is why i am here. This is a great opportunity to go to washington. Is a great scott person but it is time for a change. It is a challenge i look forward to and im happy to be here tonight. I believe that i will be the best choice to be the voice of the people that the state of washington,na in and that is what im here to make sure their interests are being served. I thank you for the question. Ive heard each of you allude to the notion that washington is broken. A lot of americans have that perceptive and perception. I have not heard how you would approach fixing it or correcting it, changing that perception that a lot of americans have. Could you address that . That this doesnt work terribly well and you are running for an office that may not be held in particular high regard. Thank you. One of the reasons why i am running as a member of the American Party of South Carolina is that unlike Many Americans i felt disenfranchised. I felt like both parties have left me. I was almost ready to go on the towel. I found that term limits addressed my desire to see things change. As i looked into that more i came across the American Party and the census project. If you think about it, if there 37anywhere between independents in the senate, the u. S. Senate is the only body still elected by voters directly. If the majority is denied to both democrats and republicans and there are enough independents backing caucus separate from the democrats and republicans they can begin to create a dialogue that will move us toward what can be compromises, negotiation, and discussions so we can start to fix the problem and come up with justions instead of fighting and kicking the can down the road. I have four grandchildren. I dont want to leave them worse off than im am. I want to make sure that we do what our parents and grandparents did for us. Therefore i think that part of the reason why we should change. They should all go home and we should start over. It could be any worse. The fact that at we used to have between democrats and republicans, there was a Good Opportunity for dialogue. 2009 when the tea party rolled up and when that tea party rolled up, they began to stand in the middle of democrats and republicans and basically what happened was the democrats and republicans could no longer sit down to the table. There was a divide which hindered us from having a dialogue. If we delete the Tea Party People that are there, i believe we will have a better opportunity to sit down and have a great dialogue again between democrats and republicans. I dont believe in term limits. Im saying that i am hoping that i will be able to open the door so that many other people can come through and have the greatest opportunity that i am having to say to South Carolina i believe that, they want me to vote, to take a womans perspective from South Carolina, which at this point we do not have, and im looking to represent this state and this nation, and do it from the perspective of a woman. I believe i am a very strong woman to do it. Thank you. Washington is broken. The fact of the matter is what we do is work for you, the people. It is not about democrats or publicans. It is about putting americans first. We can see the brokenness of washington. 17. 6 trillion debt annual deficits of 700 billion. In that environment we come up with something that will not work, obamacare. Newbury regulations like dodd frank that only create more pressure on those who would create jobs. They are paying the highest Corporate Tax rate in all of the world. Washington is broken. Sense offer is common from South Carolina. Common sense starts with personal accountability to the voters here at home. That is one of the reasons why every weekend i come home to spend home spend time talking to voters so that i can understand issues that impact folks today. I went through and did many jobs. I went on public buses. I also waited tables. I took the time so that i can understand and appreciate what people are going through todays that i could take their ideas, my best ideas are mine. Find its way to washington dcs we can fix a broken system. Yankee. Thank you. How should the United States conduct itself in the World Affairs . Should we have a more handsoff approach . I think knowing the situation that we are dealing with 2d today, that our borders and to be protected at all times, it is important and it is that we have handson with the national. I am comfortable with the fact that we should have people to contribute, and we should be handson nation so that we can have the greatest dialogue between these countries where we can Work Together so that we can feel safe in our respective nations. I believe that we should have a handson approach. What we have seen and what we need to see from america is america first. We should involve ourselves in the world as long as it includes our national interest. The back of the matter when you look around the world, and america is the only superpower left on earth, withdraws itself from the world, we seeing absolute fertility we see absolute volatility. Iran, the middle east, the push towards a nuclear weapon, we should stand strong and use our influence to help the world find order and structure. We do that by looking at our allies. I start with israel. I believe it is very important es understandably are with them and our enemies fear us. We should not spend money we do not have buying influence we are not doing well with and doing things inconsistent with their best interest. If we are one to be successful and effective at helping the need to focus, we on what is our national interests, how do we impact the world for our own best interest. How do we recognize and protect our allies who have come to the table with us. How to we make sure our enemies respect us if not fear us . If we dont do those things, our involvement will only lead to more chaos. But we have seen so far is leading from behind, red lines that dont count. Thank you senator. Thank you. For me this is personal. Thatnternational decisions refers to isis or isil could impact my children. I want to make sure we are using diplomacy first before we ever talk about using any other kinds of means. America is the greatest nation on the base of the earth. I agree with america first. That is the slogan of my campaign. We need to take a new look, a containment much like the truman doctrine that was done doing world war ii. As the debt with communism. With thekless radical islamic terrorists we have to do the same containment and begin to require that the minimize and we have to ask all of the countries in that area the most impacted by these issues to stand up and take their rightful place in the forefront. Whether it be iraq, iran, syria, turkey, egypt. They do take their rightful place and take care of the problems that are existing in their area of the world. I agree with senator scott. We need to stand with israel. Womans always be there ally and protect them no matter what comes. At the same time want to make sure that we are following a path of diplomacy and we are using our economic might. As we become Energy Independent we are going to be able to do so. Isis atould you tackle this moment of the ministrations response . I will tell you that all of us have relatives that are in the military. It is important. You see three dedicated americans that care about this country. Y brothers served. My dad retired air force. I believe that when we look at isis, what we have to do is assess our responsibility and create and coordinate a coalition of forces that starts with those who are most imminent danger among living in the middle east. I think we have done well in our airstrikes. We have done well in the collaboration, the Coalition Building we have seen from countries around the globe, seeing isis as a global threat to all nations. This has been an important step. But we must continue to do is make sure that the boots that are on the ground are the boots that live in the middle east. It is very important for us to make sure that our middle east. Artners are leading the way we can provide air cover. We can provide the intelligence said that we know exactly where to strike and how to push back. That has been effective. But we cannot do, what we have lead from behind. As i said before, i will say it again. I agree with some of the things scott said. The people in that area of the world are the ones taking the responsibility for the boots on the ground. I applaud his brothers service. As a mother of an activeduty marine and the mother of somebody who served in the International Guard i want to make sure i am not sending my in harmsybody elses way. We have done that before and america cannot be the world policeman. We need to use our diplomatic might. We need to use economic might. We need to use airstrike strategically and our strategy and technology to format that strategy within that region, to help them battle. I go back to the idea of a doctrine of containment. We need to work very carefully with the countries in that area. We are starting to see that in the way that turkey is beginning to stand up and take on a greater role in the area. I think we need to insist that happened. There is a lot of work that needs to be done before we would ever consider going any further than providing the strategic airstrikes. As far as what the Current Administration has done, i think. Hat it is too little, too late we need to keep a focus on it and we cannot let it go. We cannot let that stand. I do agree with both senator scott and ms. Bossi. I am the wife of a veteran. Am very concerned about the situation in the middle east. Israel is our strongest ally, but i believe those nations need to take more responsibility for their own actions. We have been over there for a long time great almost 14 years. , theyns in the military have been there, and it is time for our troops to come home. I think airstrikes are the best way to resolve this at this point in time. I refuse to have more troops on the ground in those countries because we are putting our troops in harms way. Our borders need to be protected. The only way we can is to have a very Strong Military presence in the world. Yet we are a superpower. We are looking at as one of the leaders in the world. We need to continue that dialogue showing that we are a strong nation. I do support my president because he is doing the job that he was put to make sure our borders are protected. One of the things we hav