Democrats Talk Up Virtues of Family Farm, Spar Over Taxes : Debate: Harkin, Kerrey attack Tsongas in South Dakota. Midwest senators need good showings Tuesday.

The Democratic presidential candidates preached the virtue of the family farm and sparred over taxes and health care Sunday in a South Dakota primary debate that could winnow a candidate from the field.

Former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, who won New Hampshire’s Democratic primary last week, drew early fire from the two Midwestern senators who need good showings here, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska.

Harkin criticized Tsongas for favoring a gas tax increase, and Kerrey said that Tsongas’ votes in the Senate proved he was no friend of farmers.

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, the New Hampshire runner-up, accused Kerrey and Harkin of distorting his record on agriculture, reminding them: “I’ve been a farm state governor for 11 years. I’ve always supported the family farm.”

Tsongas conceded from the outset that he could not match the agriculture expertise of his farm-state rivals. But he said: “I know how to listen. I know how to learn.”

The focus on agriculture was a big switch from most of the candidate debates that have been held so far this year--and that were dominated by discussion of the economy.

Another new twist was the presence of long-shot candidate Larry Agran in the debate. Agran, the former mayor of Irvine, Calif., had been excluded from past forums.

Agran wasted no time stirring it up, accusing former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. of hypocrisy for railing against moneyed politics as a presidential candidate after raising millions in campaign contributions as governor and California Democratic Party chairman.

“You have come lately to campaign reform,” Agran lectured Brown, who shouted back that it wasn’t so. Agran boasted that he alone was talking about major defense cuts to fund domestic priorities. Again, Brown said that wasn’t so; that he, too, favored big defense cuts.

Agran retorted: “Jerry, you’re the one who was for the B-1 bomber. It cost us $50 billion for a plane that doesn’t fly.”

The candidates were debating as Maine Democrats held caucuses in which Tsongas and Brown battled throughout the day for the lead. Clinton was vying with uncommitted delegates for third place.

The debate, carried on South Dakota public television and nationwide on the C-SPAN public affairs network, was testy at times, and humorous.

When moderator Ken Bode was trying to restore order at one point, Clinton told him: “I’ve got a whip and you can lash all of us.”

Harkin, lagging in a state where he needs to do well, was again a debate aggressor. In addition to hitting Tsongas’ plan to raise the gas tax, Harkin waved a newspaper article in which he said Tsongas had called President Reagan’s 1982 budget “good for business.”

“Well, it wasn’t good for our family farmers,” Harkin said.

Kerrey steered several questions into the foreign policy arena, arguing that “global prosperity means American prosperity” and would boost farm exports.

“We have an historic opportunity today to turn old enemies into new customers,” Kerrey said.

Clinton boasted that South Dakota had copied an Arkansas program to help family farmers avoid foreclosure. Like Harkin, he hit Tsongas’ gas-tax idea, saying it should not be the centerpiece of any energy policy.

“There are other ways to do it that don’t burden the middle class,” Clinton said.

Tsongas has proposed increasing the gas tax 5 cents a year for 10 years to encourage the use of alternative fuels and to decrease dependence on foreign oil.

Brown said he “wouldn’t give a penny in foreign aid” unless American farmers and small businesses were getting all the help they need.

From agriculture, the debate shifted into more familiar ground, with the candidates all promising universal health coverage and sparring over how to pay for it--and bring quality care to rural areas.

“If you want health care, you’re not going to get it under George Bush,” Tsongas said in speaking for the field. “You’re only going to get it if one of us is President of the United States.”

South Dakota’s primary will be held Tuesday, with 15 delegates at stake. It is seen as a critical survival test for both Kerrey and Harkin, who finished a distant third and fourth, respectively, in New Hampshire last week. A victory in South Dakota could provide a much-needed lift for candidates going into the March 3 primaries in Colorado, Maryland, Georgia and other states.

The stakes are high, too, for Tsongas, because he needs to prove he can sell outside his native New England. Clinton, last week’s runner-up, scrapped earlier plans to forsake the state and decided to compete. It’s a chance for him to finish better than Tsongas or one of the Farm Belt senators.