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GREENSBORO — Teresa Sue Bratton seems to savor questions, sloshing them about like a connoisseur swirling wine in her glass before pouring out an answer.

So it was with a question the Greensboro Democrat was asked about the financial industry bailout package that her opponent, Republican incumbent Howard Coble, had first voted to reject before changing his mind four days later. Bratton said she would have voted for the bill on its first go-round.

“It seems to me that a number of politicians had a choice between listening to the anger of their constituents or using their position and their access to more knowledge to make leadership decisions and that they chose a political vote as opposed to a leadership, statesmanlike vote,” Bratton said.

Would that apply to Coble?

“Yes.”

The 6th Congressional District sprawls out of Greensboro and takes in parts of Guilford, Alamance, Rowan and Davidson counties and all of Randolph County.

Coble first won election to the seat in 1984. A combination of a Republican registration advantage in the district, well-regarded constituent services and a well-earned reputation for being willing to talk to almost anyone, anywhere, anytime has helped keep him in office.

Early voting will begin Thursday and continue through Nov. 1. Election Day is Nov. 4.

When asked about the bailout bill, he said constituent sentiment initially ran hugely against the package. When the economy sputtered after the House’ initial rejection, Coble said calls and e-mails from constituents reversed in favor of the bill.

“I don’t mean to say it was exclusively because of phone calls and e-mails, but neither are those things to be ignored,” Coble said. He said there were improvements in the final bill, including a measure that raised the cap on government insurance for bank deposits, that won him over.

Bratton and Coble disagree over a host of topics, such as health care and energy policy.

A pediatrician, Bratton particularly takes issue with a vote Coble cast against a bill that would have expanded federal support to state-run health insurance programs for children.

Coble said at the time of the vote that the program would have been expanded too much and would have created a new health care bureaucracy.

On Iraq, Coble has occupied a curious intellectual space. He has criticized administration policy and urged the president to bring troops home from Iraq. But he has voted against measures that would have forced the administration’s hand.

“I would definitely continue to express my opinion,” Coble said when asked what he would do if faced with another president who wanted to keep troops in Iraq. When asked whether he would vote differently on bills designed to force an administration to bring troops home, Coble said he was “reluctant to say,” but added, “I may even go beyond that.”

Bratton is unequivocal, saying that she would support legislation that forces the next president’s hand.

“I don’t think we should withdraw troops in a manner that puts our troops at risk, but there needs to be a withdrawal,” she said.

Both candidates are facing unfavorable electoral signposts. For Bratton, nothing in the voting patterns of the past 12 elections suggest voters are ready to get rid of Coble. But Republicans such as Coble are facing a year in which frustration with their party’s president is creating close contests in races once deemed nowhere near competitive.

Should she win, Bratton acknowledges, it would likely be part of a national Democratic landslide that would not only turn over the White House to Democrat Barack Obama, but significantly expand Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

“In that situation, I believe we could accomplish changes that have not been able to occur,” Bratton said. Government deadlock, she said, would only be broken if the two parties decided to work together or one party had a firm grasp on all the levers of power.

Coble said that even if Democrats maintained control of the House, he could still be an effective legislator.

“Traditionally, I’ve enjoyed good rapport with the Democrats,” Coble said. “I regard Steny Hoyer, the majority leader, as a good friend. I’m partisan, but I’m not fiercely partisan.”

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com