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October 7, 2008

Obama, McCain square off in town hall-style debate

Mark Schlachtenhaufen

EDMOND — Kayleigh Darden was excited about getting to watch her first presidential debate Tuesday night.

Darden, who had registered to vote earlier in the day, was at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Pegasus Theater, where the debate would be shown on the movie theater-type screen.

The UCO student wants to be a kindergarten teacher, and she said she was hoping the candidates would be asked about a number of issues, especially about education and teacher pay.

“I’m learning. That’s why I’m watching it,” Darden said. “I’m really excited.”

Darden said she watched the vice presidential debate with some friends and they judged how the candidates answered the questions.

Tuesday night, some questions would be coming from voters during the town hall-style debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Others would come from moderator Tom Brokaw, NBC News special correspondent, former anchor of NBC Nightly News.

Professor Louis Furmanski, chair of UCO’s Political Science Department, said considering the seriousness of the financial crisis facing the country and the debate format, he doubted either candidate would turn negative.

At the moment, polls show economic issues far outweigh others, including the war in Iraq, Furmanski said. McCain probably would attempt to talk about differences between himself and Obama on Iraq and national security in general, he said.

McCain may be running out of ammo, he said.

“I don’t know what he’s got to drop,” Furmanski said.

The McCain campaign’s attempt to assault Obama’s readiness and the “guilt by association” game have been going on for some time and the tactics have not made much of a dent, Furmanski said.

Like Darden, this would be Dre Ellis’ first chance to see Obama and McCain in a debate. Ellis said he would be listening for anything new that might surface during the debate.

The UCO student said he wanted confirmation from Obama on the issues that are important to him such as the economy, the war on terror and its implications for the economy and environmental issues related to global warming and alternative fuels.

Ellis said he has been an Obama supporter throughout the campaign. Ellis said early on a lot of what Obama was saying about the issues seemed to make sense.

“There was a lot of genuine sincerity in what he was talking about,” Ellis said.

UCO student Paul McGregor said he has been a McCain supporter since McCain and Barack Obama answered questions from Rick Warren, the influential pastor of California’s Saddleback Church.

Warren let the candidates answer questions without interrupting them.

“He just let them say what they had to say, and through that we really heard their real views, at least what they tried to show us,” McGregor said.

McGregor said he was sold on McCain, and since the Saddleback forum, through the vice presidential picks, through the deepening financial crisis, he has been a solid McCain supporter.

Until the crisis, McCain was the leader, and by almost staying on the sidelines, Obama has surged into the lead, McGregor said. He said he lost faith in Obama when the Illinois senator didn’t return to Washington as quickly as McCain during talks on the bailout bill.

“It was kind of a low blow that Obama wouldn’t step in and try and protect what he wants to be the president of,” McGregor said.

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