"I'm excited about the prospects of signing anarms control agreement, but not too much so," saidRev. Jesse Jackson, who said the agreementexpected to be signed this fall was "a short stepfor mankind, and a giant step for Ronald Reagan."
"They [the Reagan Administration] have gonefarther than anyone thought they would," Goresaid, attempting to take credit for joining acoalition of conservative southern Democrats whopushed the Reagan Administration into arms talks.
"Aren't you a little bit surprised that thisadministration is on the verge of a significantagreement?" Gore asked. He said many voters think"The Democratic Party is against every singleweapons system that is proposed.
"We have got to maintain deterrence," Goresaid. "Our party must be strong on nationaldefense."
While all six had sharp criticism for theReagan administration, Gore and Missouri Rep.Richard Gephardt worried that Democrats havesuffered in past elections from being seen as theparty that opposes all weapons systems.
"We Democrats ought to say we are strong ondefense," Gephardt said, arguing that Democratsshould use a version of Reagan's 1980 questionwhen he asked voters if they were better off thanfour years before.
"Are we safer than we were two trillion dollarsago?" Gephardt asked. "I think it's time to indictthis administration."
The candidates also split on testing of weaponssystems, with Gore complaining that Democrats werebeing subjected to yet another "litmus test" thatpushes candidates to the left, and damages theparty's general election hopes.
"This contest is partly a struggle for thefuture of the Democratic Party," Gore argued."Foreign policy is too important for a litmustest."
The six were close to unanimous over aid to theContras, with all of them saying they were opposedto sending the Contras military assistance.
"We ought to be sending down physicians andteachers and Peace Corps workers," Simon argued.
Yesterday's debate was before an arms controlgroup called STAR-PAC, or Stop the Arms RacePolitical Action Committee.
Colorado Rep. Patricia Schroeder is scheduledto announce her presidential candidacy intentionstoday. She was invited to yesterday's debate andinitially accepted, but pulled out last week.
While being reluctant to send aid to CentralAmerica, the candidates generally favored a U.S.presence in the Persian Gulf, although they werecritical of administration policy.
Dukakis called for a United Nationspeacekeeping force, if needed, to halt the warbetween Iran and Iraq.
"I think America has a vital interest topreserve in the Persian Gulf," Babbitt said. "Wemust assert that interest."
Though there were occasional sharp exchanges,the tenor of the clash was relaxed, with thecandidates stripping to shirt sleeves because ofthe heat from television lights, and occasionallyjoking with each other during the time alloted forthem to question one another