Heated Debate Delves into Candidates

By Amy Bernstein

College Democrat and College Republican groups on campus went head to head last Tuesday night as they debated domestic, international and social issues that each presidential candidate supports.

Two college Republicans and two Democrats each took turns arguing why their candidates should be the next president. After five minutes of presentation, the other side was allowed three minutes of questions.

The event was sponsored by the debate team and monitored by Melan Jaich, internship coordinator and director of forensics. He organized a similar debate last election season.

"It worked well four years ago," Jaich said. "It is great to see people active."

Sophomore Eleanor Porges and first-year law student, James Giacchetti, argued on the Democrat side. Sophomore Meeks Vaughan and senior Trevor Williams argued for the Republican side.
The Democrats kicked off the debate with Giacchetti, who started off by stating why he thought President Barack Obama should be re-elected. He elaborated on how he thought Obama rescued the auto industry, helped with job growth, ended the war in Iraq, and killed Osama bin Laden.

Next, Vaughan, a sophomore political science major, argued why he though Mitt Romney should be president. Vaughan talked about how Obama was not justified for another term and argued against the Democrats' point that Obama ended the war.

Next, the other debaters on both sides were given a chance to argue their points. Porges talked about women's rights and Obama's plans to provide equal pay for both genders. Williams mostly talked about all the promises that he believed Obama broke during his turn.

Once every debater had an opportunity to speak, each team was given a three minute rebuttal to add any more points that were not previously covered or to elaborate on something that was already said. The debaters also used this time to clarify any points that the other team or the audience members misunderstood.

Once all the arguments were all made, the floor opened up for questions from the audience. After a few minutes of a questioning and answer session, the audience voted on which team they thought won the debate. The majority of the audience picked the Republican side as the clear winner.

Contact Amy Bernstein at abernstein@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4948.