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GREENSBORO — Before talking policy and issues over differences, the most pressing question for the three Democrats running in the 6th Congressional District may be this: How do you plan to win against Republican incumbent Howard Coble ?

First elected in 1984, Coble has easily brushed aside competitors through much of the 1990s, winning with 71 percent of the vote in 2006 against an aggressive but underfunded challenger.

"It's a matter of educating the people on who their representative really is," said Johnny Carter , a general manager for a plumbing company and one of the three candidates in the Democratic primary May 6. "The average person on the street doesn't know that Howard Coble voted for NAFTA, that he cost people here jobs."

The North American Free Trade Agreement passed during the Clinton administration. Coble has since voted against other trade deals, such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement passed in 2005.

"I'm going to hold him to his voting record," said Jay Ovittore , a house painter and another of the candidates. During prior interviews, Ovittore said that Coble has gotten a pass on issues such as Iraq, on which he has publicly called for the administration to begin withdrawing troops but has voted for continued war funding.

Ovittore added that he thinks Coble's constituent service staff did good work and would want to keep them on should he be elected.

Teresa Sue Bratton , a pediatric allergist and the third candidate running, said she would tie Coble to the Bush administration and policies she described as unpopular.

"I think he (Coble) has aligned himself with more conservative positions of the administration, which are not benefiting the environment, which are not benefiting our health-care problems...and which have resulted in some problems in our financial and mortgage system."

On several issues, the three Democrats find themselves in agreement. All, for example, oppose efforts to grant telecommunications companies immunity for aiding the government in potentially illegal domestic spying operations. And all three said they would favor using Congress' powers over the budget to force the administration to begin withdrawing from Iraq.

One of their sharpest differences is over health care.

Carter advocates moving the nation quickly to a system that would cover everyone under the same health insurance program that covers congressmen and senators.

"It can be done for the same price that we're paying right now," Carter said. He argues the country could pay for such a plan by taking the premiums currently paid by individuals and employers as well as negotiating with drug and insurance companies for lower prices.

Ovittore said Congress should work toward a universal, single-payer system but emphasized that transition must be undertaken in realistic steps.

"One of the ways to baby-step to universal health care is for me to put forward the mandatory military health-care bill, which basically is universal health care for soldiers class E6 and down in exchange for their service," Ovittore said.

His suggestion would take these veterans out of the Veterans Administration-run health-care system, although the VA could still administer the benefits. "If we can prove on that level, we can handle our veterans and our soldiers' health care with universal health care, then we can prove to the rest of the country we can do the same for them."

Bratton said she favors the creation of a national nonprofit health-care company that could cover those who don't have employer-based health insurance.

"We know that preventive care chronic disease management invests in long-term health and gives us cost return down the road, it saves us money...but there's no incentive to the insurance companies to do that at this point because at the end of 12 months you may not be with them," Bratton said.

Having a competitive national health insurance program, she said, would force private insurers to improve their services and rates. Eventually, she said, that could evolve into a single-payer system, but she emphasized she did not want to immediately shut down the private health insurance industry, calling such a step "unlikely to succeed" and potentially disruptive to the economy.

The primary is May 6. Coble is the only Republican running so there is no Republican primary.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker