Disagreement with the current Congress and president’s plans to fix illegal immigration and find a solution to the war in Iraq was a common theme at a debate Wednesday night in Athens.

The theme was shared among most of the candidates — Republican and Democrat — seeking to fill Georgia’s 10th district U.S. House of Representatives seat. Only one of the nine candidates on stage said they would support the illegal immigration bill currently in the Senate, and even the candidates who said the Iraq war was winnable and its success worth pursuing criticized the administration’s handling of the war.

Retired Lt. Col. Nate Pulliam, a Republican candidate from Conyers, said he had recently returned form spending a year in Iraq working as a consultant with Iraqi troops everyday.

“We would be on the way out already if the Bush Administration had not mismanaged the war,” Mr. Pulliam said.

Still, he said, the war must be finished and can be brought to a successful conclusion.

Republican candidate Bill Greene, a conservative activist from Braselton, said the new plan in Iraq is much better than the old one, and said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats were “pulling the rug out from under the troops,” by trying to cut off funding to the war.

“Bringing the troops home will bring the war home,” he said.

James Marlow, a Democratic contender from Lincolnton, said in response “we do not need to occupy a nation to fight terrorism.”

He said he is not in favor of setting a timeline for troop withdrawal, but does believe in tough benchmarks as a way of measuring progress.

Mr. Marlow was the only candidate at the debate who said he would support the current bipartisan immigration bill in the Senate. Most of the candidates said the most important element of solving the problem of illegal immigration is securing the border.

“We don’t want amnesty, we want border security,” Jim Sendelbach, a Libertarian candidate from Conyers said.

Mr. Sendelbach said the border should first be secured and then the nation could figure out what to do with the people who are here illegally.

The nonpartisan special election to fill the late Rep. Charlie Norwood’s unexpired U.S. House of Representatives seat will be held June 19. If no candidate is able to secure a majority — a very real possibility given the large number of candidates — a run-off election will be held July 17.