Kerry's visit to the Valley shows need for full debate

President Bush and his certain Democratic challenger, U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, will participate in a series of debates when the fall presidential campaign is in full swing. That much is certain. What isn't known is where the debates will be held. Why not the Mahoning Valley as the setting for an indepth discussion on the crucial issue of job creation?
We ask that question in the wake of Kerry's campaign stop Tuesday in downtown Youngstown during which he charged, not for the first time but with a definite zing to his words, that Bush's tax and trade policies had resulted in the deterioration of the manufacturing sector and in an increasing number of American companies looking for cheap labor abroad.
Since Bush took office in 2001, the presumptive Democratic nominee told the highly partisan crowd of blue-collar workers, retirees, union leaders, elected officials and students, the nation has lost 2.8 million manufacturing jobs, including 170,000 in Ohio.
Kerry argued that the Bush tax cuts, especially for those Americans making over $200,000 a year, had taken money out of the federal budget, money that could have been used to create incentive packages to upgrade domestic companies and make them competitive with those in other countries. He also harshly criticized the president for refusing to close loopholes in the federal tax code that make it worthwhile for American companies to go abroad. The profits made in foreign plants are not taxed if they're kept out of the United States.
Kerry's record
Last week, in reaction to a similar critique of the administration's economic policies, a Bush campaign spokesman said Kerry's 19-year record in the Senate of more taxes, more regulation and environmental policies are at odds with job creation.
"John Kerry's policies of higher taxes and more government regulation would send the Ohio economy into a tailspin," said spokesman Kevin Madden.
In a telephone conference call with reporters, the Massachusetts senator had said that he had a plan that would create 417,000 jobs in Ohio, most of them in the manufacturing sector.
The great divide between the president's philosophy of taxes and job creation, and the Massachusetts senator's view of things is the reason a full-blown debate is needed. And the setting for such a verbal battle should be the Mahoning Valley because no other region in the country has been so victimized by the policies formulated in Washington.
Kerry accuses the Bush campaign of lying when it says that his plan to rollback parts of the president's huge tax-cut package will result in higher taxes for the middle class; the Bush team counters that Kerry's plan would hurt the economy and punish small businesses.
Who's right? The American people should be allowed to decide -- in a setting that has Republican Bush and Democrat Kerry detailing their positions without the filter that is the campaign staff.