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GOP candidates Rainville, Shepard differ on abortion By WILSON RING | AP: Brattleboro Reformer | Wednesday, August 23 read story on Brattleboro Reformer site
BURLINGTON -- Three weeks before their primary election, the Republican candidates for Vermont's lone U.S. House seat met for a head-to-head debate Tuesday. Staking out similar ground on the war in Iraq, alternative energy and their favorite president, Mark Shepard and Martha Rainville agreed more than they disagreed during the 90-minute forum, carried live on WDEV's "Mark Johnson Show" and Burlington public access television station Channel 17. Their differences came when they discussed abortion. Rainville, 48, the former adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard, advocated some restrictions on abortion, such as notifying the parents of young girls seeking an abortion and banning late-term abortions. In most cases, the final decision should rest with the woman, she said. "I feel very strongly that women have the right to make the decision to have an abortion or not," Rainville said. "I am labeled pro-choice because I believe that. I think the federal government does not have a role in telling a woman what to do." Shepard, 45, a state senator from Bennington County, described himself as pro-life but didn't draw any lines. "It's hard to make a (distinction) whether somebody is inside the womb our outside the womb, that is still the same person," Shepard said. "I have seen our little children inside the womb and they're all there, I can't take that information and put it aside." Rainville and Shepard are seeking the GOP nomination for the seat now held by independent U.S. Rep. Bernard Sanders, who is running for the U.S. Senate. The two Republicans meet in a Sept. 12 primary. The Democratic candidate is state Sen. Peter Welch, of Hartland. Johnson started the debate by asking the two their positions on the war in Iraq. Rainville blamed the media for not reporting what she said were the good things happening in Iraq. "It's very difficult for citizens to have an accurate perspective of the war, of our successes, or our weaknesses, how we are actually prosecuting the war and are we meeting our objectives," Rainville said. "We don't get well rounded information through the media. What's reported happens, but so much more is going on on the ground in Iraq than we are aware of." She said the United States was making progress toward its goal of establishing a Democratic government in Iraq with a security force that could defend the government. "It's sometime two steps up and one step back. It is not steady progress," she said. "That goal should not change. And we, I believe, are closer than we've ever been. But we have to be careful not, through doubt and overdue criticism, to encourage people to pull out before we achieve what we are so close to achieving." Shepard said it would be wrong to withdraw too rapidly from Iraq, but there was only so much the country can do. "There is going to come a time when we have to say 'OK, we've given you what we can,"' Shepard said. He said that within a year or two the United States would have to finish its mission in Iraq. "If it goes on beyond there, we will look like an occupational force," Shepard said. Both said the U.S. should be less dependent on foreign oil. Near the end of the program, Johnson asked the two whose presidency they most admired. Both said Ronald Reagan. "Reagan was a breath of fresh air and he brought us a sense of hope and optimism and moved our country into a very different spot," Shepard said. "I watched him rebuild our national security abilities, rebuild our military, jump start our economy, all of the things that helped our nation to prosper and be safe," Rainville said. ... return to news page
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"... many politicians talk the talk about doing something tangible about new jobs and it doesn't go much further. Sen. Shepard walked the walk." Bennington Banner State Senator Endorsement Editorial, October 29, 2004
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