MOCK DEBATE
The debaters met with their
respective debate teams between the
panelist questions and the audience
segment. The break gave the
debaters time to talk about the issues
and what can he done to take control
over the debate.
After the break, Dr. Speel called
upon audience members to ask
questions to the debaters. Questions
ranged from character questions to
questions on government reform
and constitutional rights.
Closing statements reaffirmed
what will he done under their
respective administrations, and
Panel of ten undecided student voters take
in information at Behrend's mock debate
by Katie Galley
editorial page editor
Students that attended this week's
mock debate got a small sample of
the issues that the presidential
candidates stand for. Many of the
students in attendance were
undecided on who they should vote
for and they reaped the benefits of
the debate.
A small focus group of students
were sitting in the audience this past
Wednesday night and were polled
before, during and after the debates.
These students were asked a myriad
of questions ranging from if the
debate had swayed their thinking
about where the candidates stood on
issues to who had won the mock
debate. The results were shown to
favor one candidate more favorably
A reminder for students as election approaches
by Caryn Rousseau
October 18, 2000
TMS Campus
Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON -- Analysis: On most college
campuses this November 7 students will get
an excuse to party. But will we be celebrating
for the right reasons?
Outlined below are the higher education
proposals for both Republican candidate Gov.
George W. Bush and Democrat candidate Vice
President Al Gore. This is what the would-be
presidents are planning to do that will affect
students' lives more than any Supreme Court
nomination or foreign policy initiative.
Looking at the four members of the main
tickets is like taking a tour of the Ivy League.
Gore has a journalism degree from Harvard
and vice presidential hopeful Joe Lieberman
went to Yale Law School. The Republicans
are a bit more diversified with Bush attend
ing Yale and receiving an M.B.A. from
TARGET STATES
discuss so-called "kitchen table is-
--sometimes in homes, some
times in workplaces, schools or parks.
In the debate here Tuesday night,
Gore talked at length for the first time
about how well off the country has
been under the Clinton administration.
Advisers said he waited intentionally
until the end of the campaign to spread
that message.
"I think three weeks of doing this
intensely is the right amount of
time,"senior Gore strategist Tad
Devine said. "This is the final build
ing block in the process ... the most
powerful one."
Political analysts said the series of
televised exchanges changed few
minds, although it did allow both can
didates to address some of the nega
tive perceptions each faced.
Stuart Rothenberg, editor of a non
partisan political newsletter in Wash
ington, said the debates likely "accom
plished a bit more for Bush than for
Gore only because there were more
question marks for Bush. I think he
established that he possesses at least
the minimum qualifications for being
president."
Gore, on the other hand, had three
very different debates: one where he
was overly aggressive, one where he
which Americans will benefit under
whose plans. Webb challenged Sandy
and the College Republicans to future
debates to further discuss the issues.
A random survey taken after the
debate showed strong support for
Governor Bush's representative, Dave
Sandy. A majority of the students
attending the debate felt that Sandy
won the debate, which could have
been influenced by the turnout of
members from the College
Republican organization.
Previously undecided voter Kim
Burkey stated, "I feel that the
participants researched the candidates
than the other.
Students in the focus group were
asked in the beginning of the debate
if they favored Vice President Al
Gore or Texas Governor George W.
Bush. The results were that only one
of the students reported that they had
a slight favorite going into the mock
debate.
At the intermission break, before
the audience question and answer
session, students were then polled on
the candidate that they would most
likely vote for, with one person for
Gore, one person still undecided and
six people for Bush.
At the conclusion of the debate the
students were polled for a final time
and all the stuuents reported that
based on the night's debate, they
would vote for Bush.
After the debate was over, the
Harvard. Dick Cheney has a Master's from
the University of Wyoming. These are some
highly educated guys and they all agree that
we should be too. However they don't agree
on how to help us get that cap and gown.
Gore could easily rest on the Clinton
administration's laurels -- student loan defaults
are down, Pell Grants are up 52 percent and
HOPE Scholarships are more accessible -- but
he isn't. Gore has his own ideas that center
around making college, graduate school and
job courses even more affordable for middle
class families.
He proposes the College Opportunity Tax
Cut that would give students a choice between
a tax deduction or a 28 percent tax credit on
up to $lO.OOO in tuition. Similar to 401 k re
tirement planning, Gore wants to establish
401 j tax-free college savings accounts that
would allow employees and employers set
aside funds for continuing education. In ad
dition Gore's National College Tuition Sav
ings plan would allow families to save infla
Gore's methods proved both effective and ineffective
was timid and exaggerated his record said. "He was effective in the third
and one where he got it all together, debate ... I still think Gore needs to
Rothenberg said. convince voters that Bush is a risky
"Gore has tried during the debates choice."
to draw distinctions on issues," he
ELECTIO\ - '2OOO
FROM FRONT PAGE
and issues well. The mock debate
finalized my decision on who I will
vote for.-
Dr. Speel commented on the debate
saying, "I thought it went very well.
The panelist and audience questions
were excellent." He added, "the two
debaters presented the candidates'
positions well, and thanks to the
organizers, the event went very
smoothly."
The debate began at 7:30 p.m. and
ended at 9:00 p.m. Future debates
between the College Democrats and
College Republicans are currently
being planned.
group was asked whom they felt had
won the evening's debate, and all
eight students said that they felt that
Bush had won. Some of the issues
that the students reported swayed
their decisions were the military,
social security, government issues
and education. All of the students
agreed however that even though
they now favored one candidate, it
was not necessarily the person that
they would be voting for. They all
also agreed though that the evening's
debate between the College
Republicans and College Democrats
provided them with an opportunity
to learn more about the candidates'
platforms. "I learned more from this
debate about the positions of the
candidates than I learned from the
televised debates," said focus group
participant Kim Burkey.
tion-free and tax-free. The plan would increase
access for families to state and private sav-
ings programs
The crown jewel of Gore's plan is to pro
vide $lO,OOO in college aid and expanded loan
forgiveness for about 860,000 students who
plan to teach in high-need areas after gradua
tion. The funding also would extend to stu
dents who teach subjects with a shortage of
teachers, such as math, science and special
education.
The Democrat's Direct Student Loan Pro
gram has made loans more affordable and
college more accessible and Gore promises
to continue support for programs like
GEARUP and TRIO that benefit at-risk stu
dents. Such programming provides opportu
nities for students that do not exist now.
Bush's higher education proposals are just
as beefy but less accessible. Bush would in
crease Pell Grants for low-income students
who take AP courses in high school. How
ever the accessibility of such course work in
FROM PAGE 5A
POLITICAL RHETORIC
and California have comparably large
numbers of people without health cov-
Over the past two years Texas also
has been enrolling poor children in the
federal Children Health Insurance Pro
gram more aggressively than other
states.
In a related exchange, Gore said
pharmaceutical companies spend more
on advertising and promotion than on
research and development. According
to a Kaiser Family Foundation, the in
dustry spent up to $8.3 billion on ad
vertising and promotion in 1998, and
$2l billion on research and develop
ment.
SPENDING
ASSERTION
Bush said Gore is proposing "the larg
est increase in federal spending in
years."
FACTS: This is probably true, since the
federal budget was running huge defi
cits in most recent previous presiden
tial elections, and that kept a lid on
spending proposals. Now, surpluses are
expected for the next 10 years and both
candidates would increase spending.
Gore ha, proposed 70 billion in new
spending. Bush would increase spend
ing by $475 billion.
low-income areas is questionable. Bush's Pell
program would increase the amount of grants
from $3,100 to $5,100 for first year students.
What students will do without the funding for
the rest of their college careers is unclear.
Bush would give states $1.5 billion over
five years to cover 1/3 of the cost to set up
merit scholarship programs. These programs
would establish college scholarships for stu
dents who take college-prep classes in high
school. The program would be based on simi
lar criteria in Texas' school systems.
Similar to Gore, Bush would make college
savings accounts tax exempt. He also would
allow families with incomes up to $150,000
contribute $5.000 per child annually and with
draw those funds tax-free for education use.
But how much of the federal budget really
is spent on education programming? How
much of an economic impact will education
policy have for students?
Of next year's estimated $1.9 trillion fed
eral budget Congress gets to appropriate $319
ASSERTION: Gore said that federal
government shrunk in the last five
years under the Clinton administration,
while Texas government grew.
FACTS: Texas government grew, while
federal civilian employment shrunk to
2.7 million in 1999 from 3 million in
1993, when Clinton-Gore took office.
Federal spending, adjusted for infla
tion, increased from $1.6 trillion in
1996 to an estimated $1.7 trillion this
year.
TAXES
ASSERTION: Gore said that Bush's
tax cuts disproportionately favor the
wealthy. Bush said that the wealthy will
pay a bigger share of the tax burden
than they do today.
FACTS: Both are correct. Bush will
give tax cuts across the board to all tax
payers. The wealthy pay far more in
taxes than the rest of the country, so
they will get the largest dollar decrease
in their taxes.
Over the first four years, 28 percent
of Bush's income tax cut would go to
those earning at least $200,000 a year,
according to an analysis by the con
gressional Joint Committee on Taxa
tion, whose non-partisan technical staff
serves both parties.
But many less-well-off taxpayers
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2000
TOP LEFT: Steve Webb takes on the
role of Vice President Al Gore at
Wednesday's debate. ABOVE: Dave
Sandy represented Texas Governor
George W. Bush and was seen as the
winner by a random survey. LEFT:
State Senator Jane Earll laughs as the
candidates "play the role" of the presi
dential candidates. Earll commented
on how well prepared and informed
both candidates were for the debate
billion for nonmilitary public programs. This
$319 billion is divided up 12 ways with edu
cation receiving funding under one area --
Labor and Health and Human Services. Ear
lier this year Education Secretary Richard
Riley asked Congress to spend $4O billion on
education. That's $4.5 billion or 12.6 percent
more than last year.
To put this into perspective, the military
receives about $296 billion from the feds,
while higher education will share $4O billion
with all other education-related programming.
And that's just what Riley would like to see
spent -- the figure will no doubt falter up or
down.
Now if we elect either Gore or Bush, will
the respective candidate's programs and fund
ing allotments automatically make students'
lives easier? Of course not. Congress needs
to approve these programs and partisan bar
gaining will alter the candidates' original plat
forms -- no matter which party is in the ma
jority or the White House.
will see a larger percentage cut in their
taxes. So they will in fact pay a slightly
smaller piece of the overall tax pie un
der Bush's proposal.
GUN CONTROL
ASSERTION: Bush said that he sup
ports gun rights as a means for self pro
tection, while Gore said he has pro
posed gun control measures that will
end the flood of cheap handguns to
criminals without affecting the rights
of hunters and target shooters.
Bush signed legislation making it
legal for Texas residents to carry hand
guns for self-protection. But there is
considerable debate about whether
such measures actually enhance pub
lic safety. While several academic stud
ies have suggested that granting citi
zens the right to carry handguns deters
crime, police organizations deeply op
pose such measures, saying that they
result in too many handguns in the
hands of people who are not qualified
to use them.
Gore said that his gun control pro
posals will not affect the rights of hunt
ers and sportsmen. But, since he would
require owners of handguns to be li
censed, they would make it harder for
some target shooters and hunters to
obtain firearms.