9th District Congressional Battle: Cohen and Herenton on the Issues

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Would a Steve Cohen/ Willie Herenton debate have been all that exciting? Both candidates recently sat down with FOX13 to talk about the race and the issues.

As political campaigns go, it's been a good couple of weeks for 9th District Congressional Candidate Steve Cohen. He's been endorsed by former 9th District seat-holder Harold Ford and President Obama.

"Nancy Pelosi called me the conscience of the freshman class, Barack Obama has endorsed my re-election and said that I'm a strong voice for Tennessee and a leader in the congress and asked that I be re-elected," said Congressman Cohen.

One recently released poll has Cohen with an insurmountable lead over primary challenger Willie Herenton.

"Cohen must be polling in some other district, it's not in the 9th Congressional District," said Herenton.

The polls have been wrong before, predicting Herenton would lose his first bid for Memphis mayor against incumbent Dick Hacket in 1991 and that he would lose his last mayor's race.

"We will beat Cohen convincingly. I also predict that we'll get more white votes than people would conjecture that we would get," said Herenton.

Barring any complications, we'll know the winner August 5th. What we won't know is what would have happened at a debate. A scheduled debate on Channel 3 was scrapped after Herenton questioned the professionalism of commentator Norm Brewer and newspaperman Otis Sanford.

"What I rejected was the opportunity for those unprofessional commentators to have the privilege of asking me a question," said Herenton.

"When you're a U.S. Congressman, every citizen has the privilege to ask you a question," said Cohen.

In separate interviews with FOX13, Herenton and Cohen answered all of our questions. Their answers so similar you could reasonably wonder if they were reading from the same sheet of Democratic talking points.

It makes you wonder if a debate would have been all that exciting since they agree on so many issues.

Like bailouts:

"We had to come back with difficult votes on the TARP, difficult vote on the American Recovery and Re-Investment Act, but difficult votes that proved right," said Cohen. Herenton agreed.

Immigration:

"I think the law ought to be uniform. I think those immigrants who are legal have a bona-fide citizenship status in America ought to be afforded citizenship rights. But I'm not in favor of granting amnesty to illegal immigrants," said Herenton. Cohen agreed.

Energy reform:

"We need to have more wind and solar in this country and we need to get off fossil fuels," said Cohen. Herenton agreed.

Even deficit spending:

"How do we address the deficit spending and this enormous debt, at the same time infinite economic growth and development? There's got to be a balancing act somewhere," said Herenton. Cohen agreed.

One thing they don't agree on is whether race should be a factor in this campaign.

"Today, 16% of the state's population is African American. The city of Memphis is overwhelmingly African American. And it just so happens that Willie Herenton, who is African American, who is the best qualified candidate happens to be African American," said Herenton.

Herenton has taken the position that at least one U.S. lawmaker from Tennessee should be black and that the 9th District is the only district where that can happen.

"This is an old argument that really doesn't hold water, particularly in light of the constituency of the Congressional Black Caucus and its history of its people being elected from districts that are not predominantly African American as well as President Obama," said Cohen.

Cohen rejects that idea, and questions whether Herenton really feels that way.

"If my opponent really held this as one of his steadfast issues, he would have supported Nikki Tinker against me in 2008, which he didn't, or Jake Ford in 2006 and he supported me. Or Harold Ford in the U.S. Senate when he came within a scintilla of winning, and he himself said the other day that he supported Bob Corker, so there's an inconsistency in his position," said Cohen.

Herenton doesn't agree with that when he explains why he supported Cohen previously.

"I did not support Steve Cohen the individual, I supported Steve Cohen's right to run. And I supported Steve Cohen being a candidate and not being judged because of his skin color or his religion."

So, let the debate begin. Will it be Herenton or Cohen? We'll all find out, for sure, in a few days.