Frank Faces Brown In Tuesday Primary

They both call themselves Democrats, but going into Tuesday's primary, incumbent Congressman Barney Frank and his opponent, first-time candidate Rachel Brown, have little else in common.

He is a 14-term incumbent who has represented the state's 4th Congressional District stretching from New Bedford and Fall River to Newton, Brookline and Wellesley from a distinctly liberal perspective having recently championed President Obama's economic stimulus package and healthcare bill.

And as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee he oversaw the crafting of Wall Street reforms recently signed by the president which Frank says will help prevent future financial crises.

He has differed with President Obama on Iraq, however, calling for all the troops to come home, including non-combat personnel. And while he says he strongly supports funding for troops on the ground and to fight terrorism in America, he believes a key to deficit reduction is cutting the military budget by 20 percent and ending America's role as the world's protector.

"We need a substantial reduction in the extent to which America is subsidizing the rest of the world's military," Frank said in a debate with Brown in Newton last Tuesday on NewTV, moderated by blogger and GateHouse Media New England editor Anthony Schinella. Frank said the United States has a responsibility to be a part of the world, but should no longer be responsible for defending the whole world, "particularly our wealthy allies in Japan and Western Europe."

Frank, who is openly gay, supports same-sex unions and calls himself pro-choice.

Brown, a disciple of economist Lyndon LaRouche, made a name for herself by branding the healthcare legislation "Nazi healthcare." For much of the summer her volunteers could be seen in downtown Wellesley at tables and holding signs with photos of President Obama portrayed as Adolph Hitler.

Her platform calls for colonizing Mars to stimulate the U.S. economy by using specialized rockets that could take humans back and forth in three to seven days. She also calls for spending "not billions but trillions of dollars immediately" to build a pipeline to carry water from mountains in Alaska and Northern Canada to green American deserts, cool cities and create millions of jobs.

She has particular distaste for the government bailout of Wall Street and calls for returning to a national banking system.

Brown blames the "British Empire" for America's invasion of Iraq and believes the United States must align itself only with China, Russia and India rather than "dead" European countries and Central and South American countries controlled by "drug gangs."

In the debate, Brown called herself pro-life and said she had not decided her position on same-sex marriage.

The winner of Tuesday's Democratic primary will face the winner of the Republican primary between Earl Sholley of Norfolk and Sean Bielat of Brookline in the general election Nov. 9.