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Five Biggest Moments from Third Brown versus Warren Senate Debate

Who do you think won the third matchup between Senator Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren? Which moments stood out to you the most?

 

 

Senator Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard University professor, met for their third debate on Wednesday night in Springfield, this time each appearing more at ease and both with their best performances to date. 

Here are the five biggest moments of the hour-long debate moderated by Jim Madigan. 

Discrepancies in Higher Education
Brown's biggest moment of the debate was when he cornered Warren over the issue of the rising costs of higher education. Warren, a professor at Harvard University, noted that Brown voted against a bill that sought to keep student loan interests low, because it would have closed a loophole for millionaires. 

But Brown came back by saying the reason the costs of higher education are skyrocketing are because of administrative costs, like Warren's salary and benefits at Harvard. 

"Professor Warren makes about $350,000 to teach one course," he said. "She got a zero interest loan from Harvard and gets free housing and other perks."

Budget Battle
Warren and Brown differed on the ways they proposed to balance the budget. Warren said the government needed to take a "balanced" approach, which included the need for increased revenue as well as reduced spending. She said she would seek to keep taxes low for 98 percent of Americans by having the top 2 percent pay their "fair share."

Brown said repeatedly he would not raise taxes. On anyone. Instead, he said he would sell off all excess federal property and look for line-item vetoes in the budget. 

"I've never voted for a tax increase," he said. "We can’t keep borrowing 42 cents on a dollar to pay our debts." 

Middle Class
Another big moment in the debate was when the two candidates were asked about what they could do to help the middle class.

Warren started by saying the middle class has been "hammered" by an "army of lobbyists."

"When you talk about hammering the middle class, I suggest you put down the hammer beacuse it's your regulations and your policities that are hurting U.S. families," Brown said, calling Warren a "hired gun" who earned thousands of dollars for representing large companies in court. 

Warren, without missing a beat, said she was glad Brown brought up regulations.

"I went to Washington to fight for a new consumer agency to fight to make sure people didn't get cheated on their mortgages, credit cards and student loans," she said. "And that baby agency has already returned more than half a billion dollars to consumers who have been cheated, and I'll continue to fight for that." 

Women's Issues
Warren had her biggest moment of the debate during a question about how each would stand up to protect women's issues. Warren said Brown's record showed that he's had exactly one chance to vote for equal pay for equal work and for health insurance coverage of birth control, and voted against them each time. 

"Those are bad votes for women," she said. "The women of Massachusetts need a senator they can count on, not some of the time, but all of the time."

Closing Statements
At the end of the debate, each candidate had a minute to succinctly state the issues most important to them as candidates.

Brown touted his record as the "second most bipartisan senator," by noting he voted with his party just 54 percent of the time.

"We need to work together in a truly bipartisan manner," he said.

Warren said she saw two very different paths for the country.

"Brown and the Republicans want to cut the taxes for those at the top, and we let everybody else pick up the pieces," she said. "Everyone needs to pay their fair share, even millionaries." 

Who do you think won the debate? Which moments did you think stood out the most? If you were undecided before the debate, which way are you leaning now? Tell us in the comments. 

Related Topics: Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Senate Debate, and Senator Scott Brown

Simon

6:07 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

I was more concerned about the women rights. Also, I like the idea of making the rich pay higher taxes than what they're paying now. I'm leaning more towards Warren after the debate

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Fiscal Conservative

10:53 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Simon: Time to get real. Congress writes tax laws, they're the 1%ers. Do you really think they will VOLUNTARILY pay more taxes on their income? Hell will freeze over before that happens. They'll write laws with LOOPHOLES that THEY can use, while the rest of us pay more. Its never about US, its always about THEM!!!! I don't believe any politician from any party. Did you put the country $16 Trillion in debt? NO!!! They did and they want to make it worse by borrowing more. Any time a politician's lips move they ARE LYING!!! I've made up my mind that it's not worth spending almost $3 to drive to the polls, so I'm not voting. No matter who wins, you & I will get screwed.

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Petra Zahn Swenson

10:55 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

If you are concerned over Brown's stance on women's rights, don't be. He did NOT vote "against" birth control coverage, he just voted against letting the GOVERNMENT FORCE PRIVATE employers to cover contraception costs. He also voted to maintain title X funding for Planned Parenthood, and was one of only a handful of Republicans to do so. He is a Pro-choice Republican (rare), and truly moderate. he actually cares what the people of Massachusetts want and need, and he is brave enough to let his votes reflect those wishes, whether or not that means he is 'in line' with fellow Republicans. We need more moderates in Washington and Mass, more people capable of using COMMON SENSE rather than scare tactics like the Professor.

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DAN DEVINE

6:00 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Those darn "RICH PEOPLE" - Make 'em pay more! - That's the ticket.

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DAN DEVINE

6:26 am on Friday, October 12, 2012

Thoes darn "RICH PEOPLE", make 'em pay more!

R. Hood

6:25 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

We all enjoyed another night of Warren's buzzword bingo: Millionaires, Billionaires, Big Oil, Middle Class, Hammered.......... The bobblehead chihua brings nothing to the table.... Can she reference somthing other than the Boston Globe Rag!... Is she really behind the man (BO) who left the four people in Libya unprotected.... Maybe she'd like to fill that open position......

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Emcee of Seekonk

7:18 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

"Is she really behind the man (BO) who left the four people in Libya unprotected...."

There's something in it for her that isn't obvious yet. She's 63 years old, not exactly on a career path in politics. Altruistic? Not for one minute do I believe that. If she can support BO wholeheartedly it can only mean she thinks like him... giggling about Big Bird while the Middle East turns into rubble.

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DAN DEVINE

3:27 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

I love the "BOBBLEHEAD" comment, Her head keeps jiggling when she's lecturing (hammering) us. (She's another one like OBAMA who's going to fix everything, so far he's been a disaster)!

paul

7:43 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Middle East has been in rubble since the time of Moses. It's not our fault and we should not spend one more dime in that money pit.

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deb of see-attleboro

7:49 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

I think the best moments for Senator Brown is when he points out what every middle class family already knows. A good education is out of reach for too many students and she is just one example as to why.
Apparently, her solution is more taxpayer funding and more student loans to make it easier for young people to pile on more debt.

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Emcee of Seekonk

8:24 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

The sad thing about college graduates today is that they are aging out, so to speak. They cannot find jobs in their chosen fields, so they take lesser jobs until the job market opens up. This administration doesn't know how to fix the problem, so another four years of BO and the young graduates today will be approaching their 30's when another regime changeover occurs. Meanwhile, the younger crowd is pushing them out of the market by competing for the very same jobs. Eventually, we'll have a generation of over-educated people highly in debt. The American Dream will weight heavily on their shoulders.

Warren and BO and the entire Dem party needs to take a good look at what they have created. But, being as heavily represented in the top 1% as they are, they might be just having too much fun... on our dime.

Emcee of Seekonk

8:05 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Either we support our embassies or we shut them down and bring all our personnel safely home, effectively leaving Israël to fend for itself. In the meantime, we'd better speed up our own production of oil and coal, and we'd better build up our defense capabilities.

What we don't do is leave a handful of men unprotected while money is flowing like water over here on GSA bashes, endless fund-raising trips and party time for Dems.

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deb of see-attleboro

8:46 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Emcee: I think you are using the wrong word. It isn't "over-educated". I think the new term is "underutilized".
This term must be firmly planted in the simple minds of us plebeians so the elites remain blameless and can keep on having all that fun...on our dime.

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Emcee of Seekonk

9:09 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

"underutilized"

Okay. I like that... easy to spell.

What this country needs is a whole lot of college professors underutilized. Can you imagine them standing in line for their EBT cards to be recharged? Never seems to be their tenured, irrelevant selves that pay the price of high unemployment.

paul

8:53 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Unprotected? Do you have any adea how much military we have in the Mediterranean? If you blame Obama for the four dead in Libya then you can blame George Bush for not protecting 3000 in America on September 11th 2001.

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Great Blue Heron

9:22 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Brown scored when he pointed out that Warren is part of the problem when it comes to the high cost of education - $350,000 for teaching one course, interest-free loan, etc. The fact that she paid $50.00 per course when she went to college is irrelevant to today's problems. She's hardly one of us - Brown is.

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Emcee of Seekonk

9:24 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Yes, unprotected or ignored. "... (Eric) Nordstrom said he sent two cables to State Department headquarters in March 2012 and July 2012 requesting additional diplomatic security agents for Benghazi, but he received no responses."

The State Department is either responsible or irresponsible. Where is Hillary? We haven't heard a word from her other than a mumble about an internet video causing a spontaneous riot. Of course, not true.

You're a good soldier for the Democrats, paul.

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deb of see-attleboro

9:57 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Paul will be happy to hear the spin machine is being revved up. Apparently, it is the Republicans in Congress that are to blame for not properly funding the state department which made it impossible for Obama/Clinton to provide the needed protection.
It always comes back to those gosh darn Republicans.

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Stoughton12

12:54 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Nearly 3,000 died on George Jr's watch, on our country's soil, was that BO and Hillary's fault too? There were memo's for that as well yet they went ignored. Yet you want to hang four people around BO and Hillary when a battalion would have been needed to protect that embassy.

Paul

9:47 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Harvard is a private institution, and can pay people whatever they feel like doing. It's public education that we are taking about, such as UMass, not the 100's of private, for profit institutions that can charge whatever they want, just like the oil companies.

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paul

9:51 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Every American sailor, soldier and politician in that region is at risk and they know that going in. The 4 dead should not be used for political gain.

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Emcee of Seekonk

10:11 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

"...not properly funding the state department which made it impossible for Obama/Clinton to provide the needed protection."

LOL. Just knew it would be spun around to something like that.

Ever wonder where the borrowed trillions upon trillions have gone to, if not a little bit to the military? Who's getting the money? The budget this year is a trillion dollars short of revenues, as it was last year, and the year before, etc. etc. Yet, the Dems just keep on using the same stragedy.

Maybe Ryan will bring forth some answers in tonight's debate. Surely nothing sensible will come from Biden... but he's always good for the same old laughs.

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Dennis Naughton

10:40 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Clearly Elizabeth Warren won this debate, as she has the others. Brown still campaigns as though he's running for state senate. He was too small for that job, never mind for the US Senate. The accidental senator will he history soon.

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deb of see-attleboro

10:49 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

"Too small for that job." Predictable.

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Richard W. Lunt

5:20 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Dennis,
Clearly you have yet to get off of the Obama/Warren liberal kool aid. Scott Brown has won the debate as he has the others. Elizabeth Warren has showed that she is for the democratic party, not the people of Massachusetts who are hurting financially. Scott Brown has shown in these debates on a consistent basis that he understands the type of economic policies that need to be enacted in order for our nation to come out of this 4 year recession. Clearly the policies of the tax and spend liberals are not working, unemployment maybe 7.8%, however, that is due to people who have given up looking for work and also due to full time jobs being reduced to part time jobs. If Obama, Warren and other liberals are re-elected, more companies will reduce their full time jobs to part time jobs because of the impending high costs of Obamacare otherwise known as the Affordable Healthcare Act.

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R. Hood

5:39 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Let me see....can I predict who Dennis thinks is going to win tonights vp debate......
"Bumbling Joe".. Let me see does Dennis think Joe Kennedy is a better candidate than Bielat. The kids and I get a a kick when we see a Kennedy sign in front of someone's house.....Kids there's another Lobotomy house....

Janet Sroczynski

10:48 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Oh Dennis, thanks for the comic relief. Scott Brown continues to win these debates, as he has all the other debates.

The part-time overpaid, inexperienced Elizabeth Warren is perhaps best teaching 1-course at Harvard University. She is not a strong candidate, at all.

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Amy

11:47 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Dennis, remember why Scott Brown was elected? To stop the accidential president from shoving Obamacare down our throats. Some people just can't take a hint.
Paul remember at the debate when Mitt Romney reminded BO that he's paid more to failed "green" companies than tax breaks for oil companies? Just sayin. Oh! and Harvard gets a nice little tax break as well.

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Emcee of Seekonk

11:58 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Ah, all those tax breaks and subsidies might just get another look at when Romney is president. No more borrowing from China to support a certain class of people (mostly 1%'rs). It's no wonder the top Dems are running around wild-eyed and scared. Their plush livelihood is at stake!! It's not only about EBT cards and ObamaPhones, after all.

paul

12:43 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

If Romney came out and said he would do away with welfare he would get my vote.

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Avon Barksdale

1:00 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

I see that once again, all the world's problems have been solved by Patch readers.

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Paul

1:03 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

funny, I know a number of republicans who do their best to ensure their family members use the social programs that republicans talk about cutting - getting on ssi disability, social security when they retire, medicare, constantly milk the system so they get services paid for by tax $. It's almost like republicans should be able to get social programs and not pay for them, and ensure that those without $ are not allowed to get social programs. I'm beginning to see a 2 class system - you got money you pay for expensive education, you poor - no education for you, no arts, no pbs, In europe artificial food coloring is banned because it causes ADHD in children. Same mulit-national corporations save a penny in the USA because they need to get rich, and it doesn't matter how many poor people are damaged or killed in the process- they certainly don't want regulations that would cost them $$$ in order to save poor people. I thought this was the 21st century and the USA was a civilized society - I sure can't tell that by looking at the election ads, and you can bet the intelligent people in those countries bombing our embassies see all the USA television ads about the election and wonder about the safety of the world as these idiots would control the bombs and the military. The USA shouldn't point fingers at countries with religious zealots running them, as I see the same in a lot of the election ads - what happened to separation of church and state that the USA was founded upon?

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Amy

1:07 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Avon, have to start somewhere right? Why not our own little corner of the world?

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Avon Barksdale

1:31 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Amy, point to the comments here that have any value and are not simply devices to pWn ideological opposites. If someone dropped in from Mars with no idea about what's going on in earth politics and then read this site, they would know less than when they started. They would have negative knowledge, like anti-matter. The internet is making us politically stupider and more fractured, not smarter and better.

Amy

1:58 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

If someone dropped into this site from Mars they'd probably say Wow! How great to be able to state a point of view without repercussions or punishment. Although Avon, they'd probably think some people are more intelligent than others. :)

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Avon Barksdale

2:29 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

That's a level of optimism usually reserved for children when they talk about how tasty candy is.

Petra Zahn Swenson

2:46 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Just wondering why Avon is spending so much of his time participating in this silly conversation if it is so clearly beneath him.....

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Avon Barksdale

3:14 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

This foolishness is almost as addictive as porn, it's like having a window into the abyss of human thought and behavior.

Fiscal Conservative

4:01 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Without a question, the BIGGEST moment of the debate was when it ended. How people can actually believe anything that comes out of the oral cavities of politicians is beyond me. I think that if a person can distinguish between the two, as to who was truly lieing the least, those are the ones who should be running for office. To date, in any race, I can't decide who is the lesser of two evils. Right now, I'll probably cast my votes for office with "write ins". On the blank line, I'll write "none of the above". This way I've done my civil duty to vote and show my displeasure with the quality of candidates.

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Indiana

5:10 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

Paul - 50 % of union workers voted for Brown last time...what is your point?

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Jerry Chase

10:37 pm on Thursday, October 11, 2012

I understand that Lizzy's Indian name is "Running Joke". How appropriate.

Did we notice how RUDE Joe Biden was tonight? Did we notice how the
moderator interrupted Paul Ryan repeatedly, but never interrupted Joe even once.
She sure made Jim Lehrer look a lot fairer in comparison.

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Dennis Naughton

12:16 am on Friday, October 12, 2012

Jerry, your first sentence here smells of bigotry. Was that your intent?

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R. Hood

5:59 am on Friday, October 12, 2012

Agree 100%... Joe did NOT very Presidential.....and Liawatha, she is what she is a liar! As far as bigotry, and racisism, Dennis take a look at the only station you probably watch MSNBC, before you try coming off high and almighty!

Dennis Naughton

8:40 am on Friday, October 12, 2012

@ the out of the closet bigots on this conversation: Scott Brown was your enabler.

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Steve

9:43 am on Friday, October 12, 2012

Dennis I understand why the Democrates want to sweep this false Native American claim by Ms. Warren under the rug and pretend it is not a big issue but, to me, it is a big issue and speaks volumes about Ms. Warrens character. Please be honest and answer this question-What if the roles were reversed and it was Mr.Brown that falsley made these claims to aquire a job?? If you are truly being honest I think you would have to admit that the Dems would be all over him for that, as they should be.
In my opinion it is a double smack in the face because Ms. Warren is a democrat and it historically been the democrats pushing these affiramtive action laws into being. I honestly feel that she should be ashamed of herself.

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