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9th District House debate hits on abortion, taxes
Lanier Tea Party Patriots sponsored event
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Gainesville’s Doug Collins and Jody Cooley tackled a host of hot-button issues, from federal budget woes to abortion, as they battled Tuesday night over the right to represent the 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Collins, a Republican, and Cooley, a Democrat, who will face each other in the Nov. 6 general election, kept the 90-minute debate at the Gainesville Civic Center lively but mostly civil, fielding questions from three panelists, the audience and, briefly, each other. One of the highlights was a discussion of abortion, spurred by a question by panelist Chandelle Summer about whether the morning-after pill, which can prevent pregnancies if taken within a certain period of time after sex, should be available at no cost to “underprivileged or disadvantaged women.”