Incumbent U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert was on the offensive today at his first debate of the campaign season with second-time challenger Darcy Burner. Reichert attacked Burner's position on ending the Iraq war, her beliefs about trade and her tax plan.

The candidates battled over Reichert's contention that Burner would raise taxes. The Reichert campaign says Burner's support for a pay-as-you-go rules in Congress, which would require lawmakers to show how they planned to pay for every expenditure, would lead to higher taxes.

"Pay-go is a great concept, but there are only three ways to make it work," Reichert said. "You can raise taxes, you can make drastic cuts or you can borrow more money. Which one will my opponent do? I believe she will raise taxes."

Burner shot back: "I want to repeat, I will cut middle-class taxes. Let me repeat that again. My plan cuts middle-class taxes to put money back on main street where it belongs."

The candidates sparred mostly over their foreign and economic policies during the lunch-hour debate at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. They got only one minute to respond to each question, and there were no rebuttals, leaving several issues half-discussed. Reichert, especially, was cut off mid-sentence several times.

Burner ended almost every response by saying there's a need to "send new people to Washington, D.C." She said it so many times that at one point, Reichert reminded her that Democrats hold the majority in Congress.

Reichert's campaign passed out a "Burner Bingo" game to the crowd of about 250 people. It included terms like "tech-savvy" (which Burner did say) and "anti-choice" (which she didn't) as well as other campaign buzz-words.

Burner's campaign spokesman said the bingo card was "childish and frankly offensive."
The two candidates are scheduled to meet for another, final debate on Friday.