COLUMBIA, MO (KCTV) -
November elections are only six weeks away and Friday Missouri's candidates for governor went head-to-head in a debate in Columbia.
Dave Spence went on an aggressive attack of Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, calling him a career politician who has lost touch with the real world.
Nixon, undistracted, stuck to his accomplishments.
If anyone was wondering what's happened since Nixon took office, he made sure they knew during Friday's debate.
"We've had our unemployment rate below the national average, we've had record years in exports, we have done some very strong things," Nixon said. "We have held our tuition increases to the lowest in the nation."
Nixon, taking a passive stance to his opponent Spence, was quite the opposite from Spence's approach.
"It's an election year, you can make jobs and numbers say what you want them to say. Jay Nixon is not living in the same world you and I are in," Spence said.
When asked if Missouri should be more aggressive in pursuing a high-speed rail system, a question that gave candidates a chance to appeal to the states' high-speed rail hopefuls, Kansas City and St. Louis, each man had differing opinions.
"We have a strong industrial rail. I think the first step is to make sure we don't get slow down so, when we look to more possibilities to passenger rail travel, we have a system that can deliver on time," Nixon said.
"I think it sounds great. Boy doesn't it sound great? Sure does. Who's going to pay for it? I don't think the taxpayers want to pay one more dollar for it. If the demand is there, we'll supply it, if the demand is not there, we're not in a position to build it and they will come. We're just not there," Spence said.
Nixon's responses rarely provided direct answers to the questions asked, but he never allowed political jabs to distract him from his platform.
"We're making real progress, that's why we've seen the jobs report our unemployment rate below the national average, that's why we've seen this morning's numbers confirm we've created the third most jobs of any state in the country," Nixon said.
"It's time for the career politician to go home. It's time for true leaders to come in and straighten out what the politicians have made," Spence said.
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