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| Maria Cantwell, Democrat |
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| Candidate: U.S. Senator |
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| Maria Cantwell |
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| Age: 41 |
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| Residence: Edmonds |
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| Occupation: |
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Internet software executive |
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| Education: |
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B.A. in public administration, Miami University of Ohio |
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| Political history: |
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State representative, 1987-1993; U.S. representative, 1993-95 |
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| Endorsements: |
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Eight firefighter locals; 12 state Indian tribes; Council of State, County and Municipal Employees |
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| Campaign Web site: www.Cantwell2000.com |
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| Campaign theme: |
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Your vote for a change. |
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| 1. |
Should prescription- drug coverage be guaranteed? Should it be given to all Medicare patients? |
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I support the concept of the Mend Act that would cover people under Medicare, that would have co-payments and part of premium payments. I think coverage should be guaranteed for Medicare-qualified participants and mental- health patients. |
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| 2. |
How would you change the current system of campaign finance, if at all? |
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Eliminate soft money, which McCain-Feingold would do, or go further with a public-financing system. The clean- money proposals are the closest to my ideas. Those actually use fees on lobbyists and other things. |
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| 3. |
Should Americans be guaranteed more Internet privacy? How? |
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I believe in passing a national law to protect individual privacy. The law would basically inform users about how personal information of theirs is used with their consent and would make sure personal information isn't sold without their consent. And I support strong penalties. |
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| 4. |
What restrictions, if any, should be placed on access to abortion? |
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None. |
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| 5. |
What political acts do you regret? |
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Not getting a light-rail system built sooner. At the time I was active (in Congress), we made great progress getting money to suburban- growth areas, but I don't think we got enough … for the Puget Sound area. |
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| 6. |
What achievement are you proudest of? |
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Being the first in my family to graduate from college. |
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| 7. |
What changes do you advocate in education? |
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Improving access and flexibility to the education system so that we think about lifelong learning. So at the K-12 level, I would reduce class size and modernize classrooms. And after that I want to look at things like using the unemployment trust fund for job training and not just unemployment benefits. |
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| 8. |
What changes do you advocate in the Social Security program? |
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I definitely support having a budget surplus to provide a lockbox to Social Security - the Gore plan. |
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| 9. |
What changes do you advocate in the current tax system? |
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I support some of the proposals and the targeted tax credits for education and health care. And I support marriage-tax relief. |
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| 10. |
What is your view on breaching or removing dams in the Columbia and Snake rivers? |
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I don't support dam removal. I support focusing on stream restoration and habitat restoration. |
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| 11. |
What is your view of the Microsoft case? |
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I don't support them being broken up. |
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| 12. |
Do you believe the legal rights of medical patients should be expanded? How? |
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I believe in the patients' bill of rights passed in the Legislature (this year), the Democrats' proposal which covers everybody and gives patients the right to sue and restores the doctor-patient relationship and gives individuals the right to appeal decisions. |
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| 13. |
What are your views on expanding U.S. trade to China and Cuba? |
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I support permanent trade status for China and opening trade for Cuba. |
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