US Republican presidential hopefuls kick off debate
WASHINGTON: A Republican retreat hosted by billionaire political power brokers Charles and David Koch kicked off on Sunday (Jan 25), with presidential hopefuls debating major issues ahead of the 2016 presidential race.
Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio - all tipped as possible candidates for a presidential run - spoke at the annual winter retreat attended by some 450 conservative entrepreneurs and donors. The retreat is invitation-only, but this year organisers invited reporters to follow via webcast.
Sunday's 80-minute debate in Palm Springs, California, covered foreign policy, defence, economics and domestic affairs. It also touched on the contentious issue of election campaign financing, which the candidates defended as a matter of freedom of expression.
"I admire Charles and David Koch, they're businessmen who've created hundreds of thousands of jobs, and they have stood up for free market principles and endured vilification with equanimity and grace," Texas senator Ted Cruz said.
The influence of the billionaire industrialist brothers is significant; one organisation in the Koch network spent a reported US$120 million in 2012 opposing Barack Obama and congressional Democrats.
Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio defended election funding as a legal right. "I believe in freedom of speech. And I believe that spending money on political campaigns is a form of political speech that is protected under the Constitution," he said.
The candidates also touched on issues of domestic poverty, an unusual topic foray for the conservatives, with Cruz and Rubio slamming income inequality in the United States. "What we have in this country is really a divided America," Tea Party conservative Cruz said. "The simple truth is with big government, those with resources are doing well, the people who have been hammered through the last six years are working men and women."
Meanwhile, Rand Paul slammed the Obama administration and argued against big government. "Government is inefficient and ineffectual at almost everything they do," the libertarian Republican said. "We should minimise what government does, maximise the productive sector, and you'll get more jobs."
None of the candidates-in-waiting has officially launched a White House bid, and the first state-wide vote in the process to determine a party's nominee is a full 53 weeks away.
But the weekend's forum is seen as a chance to win backing from conservative groups, far-right voters, and the mega-donors that have become indispensable to American political success.
Read the original:
US Republican presidential hopefuls kick off debate