There's little common ground between Mazie Hirono and Bob Hogue when it comes to issues such as reproductive rights, tax cuts and how to help struggling families.

As they campaign to represent the 2nd Congressional District, both make appeals to women and parents, but clearly they come from different perspectives as they discuss various issues likely to come before the U.S. House of Representatives.

One of the issues likely will be a woman's right to choose, which both candidates say they support. However, their specific positions fall on opposite sides in a battle being fought across the nation and in Congress over whether there should be any restrictions on abortions, particularly whether a teenager should have to include her parents in the decision.

Two years ago, Hirono, a Democrat, formed a political action committee dedicated to getting pro-choice Democratic women elected to state office.

By contrast, earlier this year, Republican state Sen. Hogue voted against a bill that would have allowed teenage girls to terminate their pregnancies without notifying their parents.

The issue is particularly relevant now, as more states put limitations on abortion and Congress is debating a bill that would prohibit girls from crossing state lines to get abortions without notifying their parents.

Hogue said he believes that parents should know if their daughter intends to terminate a pregnancy. While he said he respects a woman's right to choose, he added that parents should be involved in the decision when it comes to girls.

"Parents are responsible for their children up to 18. We should maintain that responsibility in all aspects of their life," he said. "I think that we want to encourage parents to be responsible and act in a responsible manner."

Hirono sees Hogue's position as an infringement on women's reproductive rights.

"Hogue supports limiting a woman's right to choose, and I consider it so fundamental that limiting this choice really results in no choice, actually," she said.

When talking about how to help families, much of Hirono's message focuses on the working class and the needy.

On the issue of federal tax cuts, for example, she said that relief should be aimed at families that most need extra money rather than giving the biggest benefits to the wealthy.

"There is a growing economic divide between the richest in our country and everyone else," she said. "I would support tax cuts that help the working families, not the richest."

Hogue counters that the tax cuts enacted in 2001 have helped everyone. While the cuts have been criticized as primarily helping the top 1 percent of wage earners, he said the savings trickle down to everyone and he would like to see the cuts, due to expire in 2010, made permanent.

"We all benefit from the tax cuts by a strong economy," he said. "The tax revenues have increased every quarter for the last three years, job growth is up, unemployment is down. Historically, the tax cuts work."

Advocates of the tax cuts, like Hogue, generally agree that the tax savings have spurred the economy and allowed greater job opportunities for everyone.

However, critics counter that many of the new jobs are minimum-wage, dead-end positions that offer little help for those trying to climb out of poverty.

Both arguments come up during the debate over welfare benefits, where again, Hogue and Hirono have differing opinions, particularly in light of further reforms passed this year that include increased work requirements that will force more families from the rolls.

Hogue sees federal welfare reform as a success, particularly the focus on getting the neediest people into jobs.

"It's to help them when they need it, give them that temporary helping hand and then work toward them being able to sustain themselves and be self-sufficient," he said.

It's working in Hawai'i, where "our unemployment is so low that we're able to get people out of the system, so to speak, and get them back working, and that's a real positive step," he said.

Hirono, however, criticizes the recent reforms, saying they limit access to training and education that would get recipients into better-paying jobs.

"We need to provide the tools that truly enable people who have been on welfare to be able to go out and support themselves and their families," she said.

"Many of them are women with children, and I know that this administration cut back on many of their opportunities. That's not the way I would go to change the way we deal with welfare."

Instead, she would increase support for needy families so that they have a greater chance of permanent self-sufficiency.

One thing that concerns Hirono, she said, is the cuts to programs like Bridge to Hope, which helps welfare recipients earn college degrees.

She also said that the government needs to do more to support parents who are trying to get back into the work force.

"That means providing childcare and support and even transportation, if we need to, until they get on their feet and can support themselves," she said.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.