The two major party candidates seeking Iowa’s third congressional district seat met Monday evening in a second debate held at Simpson College in Indianola and carried on K-C-C-I television. The first question dealt with an issued raised in the first debate and whether Democrat Staci Appel would pull the passports of terrorists, as Appel’s statement saying she would not support pulling the passports is being used in a political ad. She was asked about her stance.

“Let me be absolutely clear, I do not support giving passports to terrorists, we have a State Department that takes care of these problems that has the ability to take passports away. So, making sure tonight, everybody knows, I do not support terrorists having passports,” Appel said. Young responded. “In that first debate you said you would not be advocating taking away the passports of terrorists. You can’t take these things back when you are a member of Congress, your vote is your vote. You need to be decisive,” Young said. “You said that, it was on the tape.” Appel again responded.

“Let me be absolutely clear one more time, I do not support giving terrorists passports,” Appel replied. “It’s absolutely absurd to think that a mom of six would think that it’s a good idea to let terrorists have passports. I will do everything possible to keep my family safe and your family safe.” Debate moderator, Kathy Obradovich asked Young if his standard for a member of Congress is there is no room for a misstatement or change of mind.

“I think when you vote for and elect a member of Congress you want to vote on their judgment most of all — there’s likability, philosophy — but judgment. Are they going to make the right call and stick to it, or are they going to flip-flop. I’ll stick to it,” Young replied. “So there’s no room for a misstatement or a change in your mind?,” Obradovich asked. “This was more than a misstatement I would say. She said she would not advocate taking away passports from terrorists. That’s pretty cut and dried,” Young said.

The candidates were next asked about a couple of issues the made news Monday. The U-S Supreme Court declined to take up challenges to gay marriage laws in five states and Appel was asked if Congress should step in and do something. “I think love is love…here in the state of Iowa we have same-sex marriage, I am supportive of it, and I think it should be decided at the state level,” Appel responded. Young was also asked if Congress should take some stance on same-sex marriage.

“Well Congress did, they tried to do this and the Defense of Marriage Act was passed in Congress and the Supreme Court essentially said there were problems with that and it was up to the states,” Young said. “But I am for traditional one-man, one-woman marriage. I just think in Iowa now we just need to make sure that religious institutions, churches, temples, that they are not forced to perform any kind of ceremony that is against their doctrine.” The two were also asked about the one-year anniversary of the federal government shutdown and whether they would vote to shut down the government if elected. Appel said no.

“What we need to do is elect folks who want to go and get the work done. I have the experience of doing that with the government reorganization in the state Senate,” Appel said. ” I worked with the Senate the House, Democrats, Republicans, department managers, employees, citizens, and we came up with great ideas because we worked together. Because we knew that Democrats don’t have all the right ideas, Republicans don’t have all the right ideas.” Young responded that while Appel claims to have worked with everyone, she voted 99-percent of the time with Democrats while in the state Senate.

“And also during the time in the state Senate you voted for the largest budget in Iowa’s history, hurling us into a Billion-dollar of red ink that had to be bailed out by Obama’s stimulus funds. You raided the Senior Living Trust Fund, the rainy day funds, and Governor Branstad came along and help bail us out. So, you have a record, and I think that’s one of the reasons you were voted out by your constituents,” Young said.

The two also disagreed over how to handle the terrorism in the Middle East. Young said the U-S doesn’t always have to wait for a coalition to take action. Appel said the U-S should work with a coalition of countries to address the problem. Appel made numerous mentions that she is the mother of six children. While Young said he will not run away from his years of experience working for U-S Senator Chuck Grassley, even though campaign ads try to label him as a “Washington insider.” The two candidates are seeking the seat currently held by retiring Republican Tom Latham.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

A southwest Iowa native is helping to train the crew of what’s touted to be one of the U-S Navy’s newest and most sophisticated warships. Chief Petty Officer Bobby Houseman of Winterset joined the Navy in 1997, in part, out of respect for his grandfather, who also served.

CPO Robert Houseman

The 35-year-old Houseman is stationed on a destroyer called the Zumwalt. It’s still being outfitted at the Bath Iron Works on the coast of Maine. While it’s 80 feet wide and more than two football fields long, the huge ship was built using the latest in stealth technology.

“It has reduced our radar signature down to approximately a fishing boat,” Houseman says. When at sea, he says the Zumwalt will perform a variety of missions, including attacking targets on land with gunfire and cruise missiles, hunting and tracking submarines, airspace surveillance and support to special operations forces. The ship’s two enormous main guns can hit targets at a great distance with incredible accuracy.

“They shoot a long-range rocketed projectile,” Houseman says.

The Zumwalt

“These projectiles can go approximately 63 nautical miles and really, if you threw a belt buckle out there, they’ll remove that belt buckle from the map.” The Zumwalt’s futuristic appearance and capabilities seems fitting — given the name of its commanding officer. Science fiction buffs know the commander of the starship Enterprise on “Star Trek” is Captain James Kirk, and his future birthplace is Riverside, Iowa. Like the science fiction hero, Houseman says this warship is commanded by a very-real person of the same name.

“When I heard that the captain of the USS Zumwalt would be Captain James Kirk, I really thought the person telling me was joking with me,” Houseman says. “I had to do some research to find out exactly what he was talking about and ensure that this individual wasn’t pulling my leg.” He says the real Captain Kirk is, much like the fictional version, a fine leader. “He’s very motivated, very inspiring,” Houseman says. “He keeps the crew on task and very focused, working toward getting that ship ready to go and get it away from the pier.”

The Zumwalt was named in honor of Admiral Elmo “Bud” Zumwalt Junior, who served as Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy’s most senior uniformed officer, from 1970-1974. The ship should be commissioned and set sail next year.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)