Nunnelee, Morris Spare In First Congressonial Debate

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) – Candidates are presenting competing visions of government the despoiler versus government the helper in a north Mississippi congressional debate.

Republican incumbent Alan Nunnelee of Tupelo and Democratic challenger Brad Morris of Oxford met Thursday night at the University of Mississippi.

Nunnelee, the leading fundraiser, continues to focus on what he sees as the danger of government debt and regulation.

Morris, though, said Nunnelee’s vision leaves out lunch-bucket voters in Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District, which runs from the Memphis suburbs through Tupelo to Columbus.

When asked what he would cut, Nunnelee named only the subsidy to public broadcasting and the subsidy for air service to small cities, including Tupelo.

Morris said deficit reduction should include tax increases at least on those making more than $1 million a year.