BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
KINGS MILLS -- Similar problems, different solutions.
That was the theme at Sunday's congressional debate between 6th District incumbent Ted Strickland and GOP challenger Nancy Hollister -- the seventh of their planned 14 debates.
Both candidates admitted Sunday's question-and-answer encounter likely did not sway many voters. The 150 or so in the audience already have made up their minds about who should represent the sprawling Southern Ohio district, they said.
Mr. Strickland, D-Lucasville, and Republican Mrs. Hollister, Ohio's lieutenant governor, repeated similar themes.
Both want to eliminate the tax code and shore up Social Security for the coming generations.
They want to funnel more money into education and improve the salaries of military personnel.
And both think women should be paid the same amount as men for equal work.
The contrast between the two comes in how they want to solve those problems.
Mr. Strickland is a staunch proponent of the Paycheck Fairness Act, legislation that would work to close the gap between what women and men are paid for equal work.
Women make 74 cents to each dollar paid to men, he said.
While Mrs. Hollister said she supports equal pay for equal work, she doesn't think the matter requires a law.
"Seventy-four cents is a good figure because we've made progress, and we're going to go after the last 26 cents," she said.
But to issue a government mandate would set back the women's movement 20 years, Mrs. Hollister said.
Neither candidate supports the tax code. While Mr. Strickland thinks a progressive form of taxation should still be used, Mrs. Hollister hasn't decided if she supports the Republican proposals of a flat tax or national sales tax. However, she thinks eliminating the code would spark a needed national debate.
Congress should look to the budget surplus to save Social Security, both candidates agreed.
But Mrs. Hollister supports throwing in a tax cut, too.
Mr. Strickland cautioned that cutting taxes now could jeopardize Social Security in the future.
For education, Mr. Strickland wants a large infusion of federal dollars to renovate or rebuild many of the aged schools in the 6th District. Mrs. Hollister thinks the money should come in the form of federal block grants to the state. That would allow state and local officials to decide how to use it, she said.
Before Nov. 3, the candidates plan to meet in each of the 14 counties in the 6th district, which stretches across Southern Ohio from Marietta to Lebanon.
