At times the conversation grew heated as the two men faced off over the studio console at WPHT-AM (1210), with talk-show host Michael Smerconish in the middle firing questions.
Runyan contended that Adler had voted against the Obama administration's health-care overhaul bill only because the political winds shifted against it. In response, Adler seemed to question whether Runyan was prepared to serve in Congress.
"It's convenient that the first vote came down three days after Republican Chris Christie took this district by 17 percent" in the governor's race, Runyan said. He said Adler's attempts "to try to run back to the middle" would fail because he has voted with the position of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) 90 percent of the time.
"I've got to jump in," Adler said, "because it seems like Jon just got into his attack points his folks coached him to say." Adler said he had reservations early on in the health-care debate, saying that the bill did not do enough to control costs. He said he expressed his concerns to Pelosi and President Obama.
While Adler has voted with the speaker most of the time, such totals are typically swollen by procedural votes in which both sides of the aisle stick with their leadership. Adler was named one of the most "independent" Democrats in a study by Congressional Quarterly last year.
Asked by Smerconish to label themselves politically, Runyan said he was a "commonsense conservative" while Adler styled himself an "independent centrist."
Adler voted for the $787 billion stimulus program in early 2009, which Runyan said "obviously" has not worked to restart the economy. Tax cuts are the answer, he added.
Adler voted against the bank and auto company bailouts. Runyan said he also would have opposed them, though he did express support last December in an Inquirer interview.
