CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / U.S. SENATE : Boxer, Herschensohn Clash in Spirited Debate

After sparring at a distance all summer, Democrat Barbara Boxer and Republican Bruce Herschensohn sharply clashed in Long Beach on Saturday in a spirited U.S. Senate campaign debate, displaying widely divergent views on virtually every major issue facing California voters in 1992.

In the end, however, national security questions provided the most distinctive divisions in the first debate between Boxer, 51, a liberal Democratic congresswoman from Marin County, and Herschensohn, 60, a conservative radio and television commentator from Los Angeles.

“You’ve always been against a strong defense,” Herschensohn told his opponent for the six-year Senate seat now held by Democrat Alan Cranston.

Furthermore, Herschensohn told reporters, if Boxer had gotten her way in Congress the past 10 years, the Soviet empire would still be in power and Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia still would be “enslaved.” And Nicaragua would be controlled by communists as well, he charged.

Boxer retorted, “The Soviet Union fell because communism was a failure, not because of Barbara Boxer.”

Throughout the debate, Boxer described Herschensohn’s political ideas as “out of touch with reality.” For example, Boxer said she doesn’t know of a single American, other than Herschensohn, who wants to increase the national security budget rather than reduce it--even, she noted, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney and Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Meeting with reporters afterward, Herschensohn noted that he has modified his position since President Bush proposed a $50-billion cut in defense over the next five years. Rather than supporting an increase in the national security budget, he is content to maintain the present level of defense spending, with no cuts, Herschensohn said.

“I have some sense of realism,” he said, noting that Bush is the head of his political party even if they do disagree on a number of subjects.

During the debate, Boxer said the United States must support emerging democracies and promote human rights, but can no longer afford to be “the 911 of the world.”

“We must never forget: It’s a dangerous world--absolutely,” she said. But she added, “We are in an economic war now” and the nation cannot compete without restoring its own economy.

Herschensohn countered that any perception of American disarmament is certain to invite challenge from emerging powers such as China.

“I never ever, ever, ever want this nation to be unprepared,” he said. “The most important thing beyond anything else is the security of the United States and the safety of every American citizen, current and future.”

The candidates sparred at the First Congregational Church in a forum co-sponsored by the church and the Long Beach-area League of Women Voters. Each campaign was well represented by cheering--and sometimes jeering--supporters in the audience, estimated at about 500.

The Boxer campaign always makes a special effort to turn out its partisans at such events, and they easily outnumbered Herschensohn proponents on Saturday.

Moderator Laurel Parker had to admonish the boisterous crowd repeatedly and once inquired whether security forces were available, presumably to bounce the worst offenders.

The exchange between the candidates, however, generally was good-spirited, if intense.

Rhetorically, Boxer and Herschensohn seemed well-matched. Her debate skills have been honed by a decade in Congress and as a onetime radio talk show host, and Herschensohn’s by 13 years of broadcast commentary, including point-counterpoint exchanges with liberal Democrats on the air.

In the primary, Herschensohn often flustered his GOP opponent, Rep. Tom Campbell, by bringing up House votes he had cast in past years and challenging him to defend them. He used the same tactic with Boxer on Saturday, but she responded promptly and confidently in each instance.

At one point, the two disputed each other’s facts while debating the development of the Patriot missile. Boxer said the Patriot was never part of the Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars,” program. Herschensohn said it was and told Boxer, “Every step of the way, you fought SDI.”

Boxer retorted in a chill, firm tone: “I am on the Armed Servies Committee. I will show you.”

The format allowed each candidate opening and closing statements. Each had two minutes to answer each of eight questions and a minute to rebut the other’s answer.

Herschensohn, who has never held office but did work in the Nixon White House, opened as a Washington outsider trying to paint Boxer as part of a Capitol Hill Establishment that is out of sync with voters. He attacked her for voting for the Congressional pay raise and opposing cuts in Congressional staff and perks.

In her opening statement, Boxer gave an abbreviated version of her stump speech, calling for defense cuts in the post-Cold War era, with the money used to pay for enhanced domestic programs, such as job training and development, education and health care.

But, in response to Herschensohn’s charge that she has helped Congress waste taxpayers’ money, she ad-libbed: “Even if you work for nothing, you would cost California a fortune.” This was a reference to Herschensohn’s proposed single-rate flat income tax, which is part of his plan for balancing the federal budget.

The two also differed sharply on every other subject, including health care, education, civil rights for gays and women, abortion and the environment.