Keller @ Large: Candidates Moulton, Tisei Defy Usual Partisan Mold

BOSTON (CBS) – In a discussion between the two major party candidates for Congress in the sixth Congressional district, Democrat Seth Moulton and Republican Richard Tisei sat down with WBZ''s Jon Keller and the results seemed to blur the usual partisan boundaries.

Moulton and Tisei disagree on plenty, but there's one striking thing they do agree on: neither one wants to be associated with his party right now.

When Moulton tried to tie Tisei to the GOP leadership in Congress, Tisei was eager to underscore his partisan independence.

"When Mitt Romney was governor, I voted with him 50 percent of the time and I voted against him 50 percent of the time. I did that because I looked at each individual issue and asked what was best for the people in the district. I have no problem voting with the Democrats," Tisei said.

Moulton also made an effort to distance himself from Democratic incumbent he ousted last month.

"The voters made it clear in the primary that I'm not Congressman Tierney. I have a history of standing up for things that I believe in," Moulton said.

There was also a bit of political role reversal on the topic of President Barack Obama's war with ISIS.

"When it comes to ground troops, I'm not going to automatically say that it's off the table because we don't know what's going to happen week to week. This is a very serious threat. So, I do want to give the president the tools in his tool box that he needs to protect our country," Tisei said. "And that's a non-partisan thing."

You can watch the full interview at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday on WBZ, or online afterwards on CBSBoston.com.

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