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Stimulus' Effectiveness an Election Hot Topic

As the recession drags on Democrats and Republicans are intensifying their argument over whether President Obama's economic stimulus plan is helping, or hurting. Whoever wins that fight could determine which way the midterm elections go this fall.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi came to the Mission Neighborhood Centers in San Francisco, a beneficiary of the recovery act, where she admitted that the hard times aren't over yet.

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"I don't know how long this recession will last, and we're working very hard to make a change there because we were in a very deep recession and we are still digging our way out," said Pelosi.

But Pelosi contends the economic stimulus has created more jobs this year than George W. Bush did in his entire presidency.

"Absent the stimulus package we would be in very, very dire straights," said Pelosi.

If that's true, argues Republican U.S. Senate nominee Carly Fiorina, then why has unemployment gone up, topping 12 percent in California?

"We have lost an additional 400,000 plus jobs since the stimulus bill was passed," said Fiorina.

Fiorina says the solution is passing targeted tax cuts, which she claims will pay for themselves. Pelosi calls that a rerun of trickle down economics.

Click to listen to the full interview with Fiorina

How Many Debates?
Meanwhile, Fiorina says her campaign has accepted 11 different offers to debate her opponent, Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. Fiorina's camp says that Boxer has only accepted one of them so far.

The two campaigns have been negotiating in recent weeks, trying to agree on a schedule of debates. Fiorina wants to have five debates around California, and two more on national news programs. Boxer's team has been noncommittal.

Talks between the two sides broke down late Monday. That's when Fiorina announced that she would agree to every debate offer on the table, 11 in all, including eight in California and three national programs. There's been no response yet from the Boxer campaign, but Fiorina says one of the debate organizers reports that Senator Boxer has agreed to appear at one event.

It's not likely all of those debates will actually happen.

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