U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.) remained calmly in Washington Tuesday night as two Republicans waited nervously to see which one would oppose her in November.
No last-minute campaigning for her. The important work already had been done.
Moseley-Braun avoided a primary fight by lining up the support of Democratic Party heavyweights such as Mayor Richard M. Daley early last year.
With a Federal Election Commission probe into her 1992 campaign finances completed with no action, the first-term senator has been able to concentrate on eliminating lingering campaign debts and bolstering her legislative record.
In recent days, Moseley-Braun has touted such federal programs as the Senate’s transportation bill, which passed last week with increased funding for Illinois. And she confidently talked up the public education building bill she stayed in Washington to work on Tuesday.
Now she will face the Republican nominee, state Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, whom she described as an extreme political opposite.
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She would like to bring those differences out in a series of debates, she said. “Lincoln and Douglas had seven debates,” she said early Wednesday in a phone interview. “I think we should do six.”
She demurred when asked if she would refrain from the negative forms of advertising used by Fitzgerald against his primary opponent, state Comptroller Loleta Didrickson.
“I am prepared to commit to doing the best job I can to get my record out and speak to the voters of Illinois,” she said.
Braun said that she had held no preference between facing Fitzgerald or Didrickson. “I was prepared to face either one of the nominees, based on my record of productivity,” she said.
She said she would stress the differences between her views and Fitzgerald’s on gun control and abortion rights, both of which she supports and he generally opposes.
Fitzgerald is likely to focus on some of her missteps since her surprise victory in 1992–such as a visit with a Nigerian dictator and campaign fundraising questions that dogged her well into last year.
Money, however, is not the problem it once was for Moseley-Braun.
She said she feels confident about being able to finance her race for re-election. Recent fundraisers, including one last week with Vice President Al Gore, have helped bulk up her war chest.
Moseley-Braun suggested that the two Senate nominees limit their spending in the general election.