Senate debates good news

The Massachusetts race for U.S. Senate is off to a good start with news that sitting Sen. Elizabeth Warren is set to face off with the challenger, state Rep. Geoff Diehl, in three debates.

Sen. Warren is rarely challenged for her rhetoric or policy positions and voters deserve some clarity on several matters.

Recently she called for the abolishment of ICE. She has frequently denounced President Trump’s proposed wall. How is border security constituted in her ideal scenario? Are all walls and fences cold and cruel or just Donald Trump’s?

Warren has declared that our criminal justice system is racist from “front to back.” Does that mean every officer, prosecutor, judge and administrator? She has backpedaled, sort of, by clarifying that she was not referring to individuals, but the “entire system.” Hopefully the debates will reveal exactly what that means.

Diehl said Warren is more interested in running for president in 2020 than helping at home.

“She’s not interested in Massachusetts,” he said. “You know it. She’s looked right past us and the issues we care about. We clearly cannot depend on her when her focus is always on her political future.”

We’d like to know what Sen. Warren’s intentions are, exactly.

Also, she opposed the 21st Cures Act, which would provide billions of dollars for things like cancer research and other public health initiatives. President Obama was moved to tears while signing the bill, but Sen. Warren harshly criticized it as a giveaway to big pharma. Why something so widely embraced caught her ire remains a mystery.

We have fewer questions for Diehl as he is always accessible to the Boston Herald, but we look forward to his performance as well.