Competing charges of 'false hope' highlight Ga. senate debate

PERRY - Democrat Michelle Nunn and Republican David Perdue accused each other of offering false hope to voters during a rowdy debate Tuesday night in which they traded charges of not being able to advance anything if elected to Georgia's open Senate seat.<br /> <br /> Also at the debate was Libertarian Amanda Swafford, a former member of the Floweery Branch City Council, who said neither Nunn nor Perdue offers voters anything new.<br /> <br /> The debate was held in Perry.<br /> <br /> Perdue, the former chief executive of Dollar General, dismissed Nunn's call for bipartisanship as unrealistic. She is the daughter of former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn, a moderate who represented Georgia in Congress for years.<br /> <br /> "My Democratic opponent was hand-picked by President Obama. Do you think she is going to go against his policies?" Perdue said.<br /> <br /> Nunn, chief executive of the volunteer organization Points of Light, argued that Perdue "does not have the leadership necessary" to be effective in Washington, and cited his support for last year's GOP-led government shutdown.<br /> <br /> "We need principled efforts and ideals, but we also need to send people to Washington that are not about attacking and paralyzing and polarizing our government," she said.