After the debate, the two candidates mingled with friends, family, and supporters on the patio behind the gymnasium. The gorgeous dusk sky and buffet of cookies and lemonade set the summery, cordial mood while supporters of both camps expressed pleasure at the performance of their candidates. “Beautiful job, Jean” an elder lady said with a sincere smile. One Hackett supporter, a World War II veteran, began to choke up while recalling his war experience to the veteran candidate. “Don’t. I’ll start crying too,” Hackett said with a sad smile. Amidst this intimate political tableau, both candidates talked with me about some of the issues that weren’t addressed during the debate. Iran, Guantanamo Bay, SUV’s, and homosexuality were on the docket.

Throughout the debate, Schmidt highlighted the importance of the Bush Doctrine, which calls for democratization by force as a deterrent to terrorism. I asked her if she supports an invasion of Iran. “If they have nuclear power, or if we discover that they…are building the opportunity for nuclear power, I think we have to give a real strong hard look at it…we can’t be in the unfortunate situation of waking up one morning and facing down the barrel of a nuclear weapon on our shores.” It is worth noting that Iran has nuclear power.

Hackett, who opposes the Bush Doctrine and the Iraq War, enlisted to fight anyway and supports the Bush Administration’s withdrawal strategy: leave when the Iraqis are trained. So I asked him to clarify what exactly makes his stance different from that of the Republicans. He responded that his strategy for pairing Iraqi troops is “a subtlety, but…a big difference.” According to him, Bush Administration’s training plan “doesn’t work” whereas his idea “is real straightforward and I know it works because I tested it firsthand…in Fallujah…You sleep together. You eat together.”

I asked Schmidt what she thought about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. She sarcastically quipped, “What prisoner abuse?” She went on, “It is allegations, and interestingly enough, I got to see the menu that those prisoners are getting. They actually have things like…” she pointed to the cookie in her hand. “…cookies on a menu and real food. It actually looks like a snack bar at a high school or a college…It’s allegations, and that’s what they are.” So she doesn’t believe it? “I don’t have enough knowledge to comment on it, but I can tell you this. They’re eating better than half the people in this county.”

When I brought the same subject up to Hackett, the candidate lowered his voice to a near-growl. “These guys are bad sons of bitches. You can quote me on that. They’re bad, evil, nasty people…I got no freakin’ sympathy for them.” But Hackett supports their right to greater legal representation. “My problem with the President and Guantanamo Bay is he needs to provide them the basic judicial process to be heard and to determine whether or not they are being appropriately held. In other words, are we holding the right guys there? If we’re not…cut ‘em loose, or provide them a legal mechanism in which they can have their cases reviewed, so they can be cut loose.”

Throughout the debate, Schmidt extolled the virtues of her ethanol plan while Hackett touted hybrid cars, but neither candidate brought up the major cause of rising US petroleum imports: poor fuel-efficiency for personal-use cars, SUV’s, and trucks. The Department of Energy estimates that the United States would save more than 100 million barrels of oil per year if every vehicle were more efficient by just one mile-per-gallon. Republicans, bedfellows of the petroleum industry, continually reject any attempts to reduce petroleum-use, while Democrats shy away from the issue because of their reliance on the support of the United Auto Workers. Schmidt rejects stricter fuel-efficiency standards because “…if it cripples the auto industry and makes us less competitive in the world market, then it’s not an answer we can look at.” Hackett, who was endorsed by the UAW, expressed his confidence that “the economy will work that (the fuel efficiency problem) out naturally.” The only federal intervention he supports is a tax incentive for consumers to buy hybrids.

On the question of global warming, Schmidt gave a vivid anecdote about running a marathon in Beijing. “…when you run through the streets of Beijing, you come home every morning and you have black soot at 5 o’clock in the morning on your face. Your white t-shirt is now covered in soot. I think you’d have to be blind to not figure out that they’re not performing to the same energy or environmental standards as the United States…” She thus voiced the same argument that the Bush Administration has peddled since withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol: if other countries aren’t reducing their emissions, why should we try? This argument ignores two crucial realities: the United States is the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases and the externalized costs from global warming may outweigh the market costs that stricter federal standards inflict on industry.

Schmidt, who is the President of Cincinnati Right-to-Life, has crusaded against abortion since she was sixteen years old, opposing it in rape situations and even picketing abortion clinics. I asked her what motivated her to dedicate her life to criminalizing abortion. “I found it rather foreign that a woman could kill her baby if it was inside her womb because she didn’t want it. And I didn’t understand that concept.” However, she’s quick to point out that ending abortion is “not my chief calling. ‘Cause I don’t spend 24/7 on this issue. There are a lot of issues that define me. Being pro-life is one of those issues.”

The pro-choice Hackett wasn’t sure how he’d vote on the Supreme Court nominees, but he spoke eagerly about that other hot-button social issue: homosexuality. “That’s how God made them.” If one of his kids came out to him, he said “I’d love ‘em just the same.” By contrast, Schmidt appeared uncomfortable and hesitant with the question. She paused, deep in stoic thought: “You have to accept people for who they are and what they are.” Pressed for clarification, she repeated the same sentiment, her eyebrows raised in pious sympathy: “You have to accept people for who they are and what they are.” Does she believe homosexuality is a sin? “I can’t answer that question. I really can’t.”

Hackett and Schmidt represent the polarized reality of America politics. Hackett denounced virtually every policy of the President, while Schmidt offered her unwavering support to President Bush. So is there any issue on which Hackett agrees with Bush, and is there any issue on which Schmidt disagrees with Bush? A tight-lipped Schmidt paused. “Well, I’d like to see a stronger border patrol policy.” Hackett laughed uproariously at the question before becoming serious. “I think he said in his speech last week that the greatest service and calling in America today is those who serve in combat. Yeah, I agree with that.”