BUCKHANNON - Pull out of Iraq. Help the middle class. Make health care accessible and affordable to all Americans.

On that, the three Democratic candidates for the 2nd District congressional seat agree.

During a Wednesday night debate at West Virginia Wesleyan College, Anne Barth, Thornton Cooper and Richie Robb found a few topics on which to distinguish themselves from one another.

The three, who fielded questions on fair trade, immigration, jobs and other topics, will face off in the May 13 primary for a chance to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito in the fall.

Barth, 50, a longtime aide to U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, said to tackle the complicated problem of health care means making sure every eligible child is covered by the Children's Health Insurance Program, negotiating lower prescription prices with pharmaceutical companies and blocking President Bush's proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

Cooper, 58, a lawyer and retired state employee, favors eliminating tax cuts for individuals earning $100,000 or more and married couples earning more than $200,000 to help fund a universal health care system.

Robb, 61, said the current state of health care in America is "inexcusable'' and he can best tackle the issue because as mayor of South Charleston for 32 years, he knows how to get things done.

Cooper said he wants to raise the minimum wage to $9.60 by 2011, and downplayed concerns that higher wages could hurt small businesses. He said businesses rarely lay off employees, preferring instead to pass on increased costs to consumers.

Robb said he favors fair trade, but wants to review product lines individually. Cooper agreed, but added that commodities from overseas companies that do not subscribe to the same environmental and wage laws as U.S. companies should not be allowed in.

BUCKHANNON - Pull out of Iraq. Help the middle class. Make health care accessible and affordable to all Americans.

On that, the three Democratic candidates for the 2nd District congressional seat agree.

During a Wednesday night debate at West Virginia Wesleyan College, Anne Barth, Thornton Cooper and Richie Robb found a few topics on which to distinguish themselves from one another.

The three, who fielded questions on fair trade, immigration, jobs and other topics, will face off in the May 13 primary for a chance to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito in the fall.

Barth, 50, a longtime aide to U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, said to tackle the complicated problem of health care means making sure every eligible child is covered by the Children's Health Insurance Program, negotiating lower prescription prices with pharmaceutical companies and blocking President Bush's proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

Cooper, 58, a lawyer and retired state employee, favors eliminating tax cuts for individuals earning $100,000 or more and married couples earning more than $200,000 to help fund a universal health care system.

Robb, 61, said the current state of health care in America is "inexcusable'' and he can best tackle the issue because as mayor of South Charleston for 32 years, he knows how to get things done.

Cooper said he wants to raise the minimum wage to $9.60 by 2011, and downplayed concerns that higher wages could hurt small businesses. He said businesses rarely lay off employees, preferring instead to pass on increased costs to consumers.

Robb said he favors fair trade, but wants to review product lines individually. Cooper agreed, but added that commodities from overseas companies that do not subscribe to the same environmental and wage laws as U.S. companies should not be allowed in.

Barth said the key to dealing with fair trade is not to lower U.S. wages and standards, but to raise the standards in Third World countries. She also supports funding programs that help manufacturers stay competitive.

All three said the key to dealing with the millions of illegal immigrants in this country is to enforce immigration laws. But they disagreed on what to do with illegals already in this country.

Robb said it was unfair to penalize illegal immigrants who are living and working here when "we were letting them into this country. I just don't think that's right.''

Cooper said they should be deported.

"It took a long time for them to come here,'' he said. "It's going to take a long time to get them back.''

As for jobs being sent overseas, Cooper said America needs to "figure out what we do best in this country'' and provide tax incentives to encourage job growth in those areas.

Barth and Robb said it's time to stop providing tax incentives to companies that send jobs overseas and start offering tax incentives to companies that keep jobs here.

Barth noted that oil companies recently reported $123 billion in profits while receiving $18 billion in tax credits.

That's money that "could help our small businesses, educate our children, build roads.''