First debate: Rand attacks heritage claim

Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren spar on tax policy, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Warren’s heritage. Brown begins:

She checked the box claiming she is Native American, and clearly she is not.

Warren counters that her parent told her she is partly Cherokee and Delaware and that she has no reason to question them. She points to a series of Brown votes in the Senate that she says show he sided with big oil companies and held tax cuts for the middle class hostage to give tax cuts to millionaires. He responds that of the two candidates in the race, only one supports higher taxes, and that’s her. Warren points to a Brown vote in favor of a proposed amendment that would allow employers to deny insurance coverage for birth control. Brown says he supports women’s access to birth control but is trying to protect the religious concerns of Roman Catholics. The church opposes birth control. Polls show a close contest in the most expensive campaign in Massachusetts political history.