College dems sponsor debate between democratic and independent candidates
Four candidates for the Oregon Senate position debated in the Oregon Room on Thursday, April 24.
Brad Lehman & Jeffrey Sawyer
Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: Headlines
The world of politics took center stage at Western last week. On Thursday, April 24, Western hosted a U.S. senate debate in the Oregon room.
The debate was overshadowed by the visit of former President Bill Clinton, but still kept the Oregon room packed for over an hour.
The debate was hosted by the College Democrats club, ASWOU and the Communications Studies and Political Science departments. Present at the debate were four senate candidates that included three democrats and one independent.
Steve Novick, Candy Neville and Jeff Merkley were the democratic candidates present and John Frohnmayer was present as the independent candidate.
All of the four candidates are running in hopes of taking the seat of current Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith in the upcoming November elections.
The candidates were asked questions about what their plans are if they were elected, why they would be the best candidate to run against Smith and several questions regarding the Iraq War, NAFTA and health care.
According to Carl Fisher, who helped coordinate the debate, Smith was not invited to participate.
Nearly all of the candidates stated that they wanted to get American troops out of Iraq within a relatively short amount of time. Merkley and Novick stated that they wanted to work with nations surrounding Iraq to help stabilize the country while Neville stated that the UN should be brought in to help with the stabilization after U.S. troops leave.
Each candidate gave different reasons for why he or she would do the best job in Washington.
"Republicans and democrats have gotten us into this mess, which is why I am running as an independent," said Frohnmayer. "I would like to take the best ideas from both republicans and democrats and have students pay off their loans by getting them involved in public service."
"The nation is fundamentally offtrack," said Merkley. "I would be a senator that could distinguish between national threats and manufactured threats."
The debate was overshadowed by the visit of former President Bill Clinton, but still kept the Oregon room packed for over an hour.
The debate was hosted by the College Democrats club, ASWOU and the Communications Studies and Political Science departments. Present at the debate were four senate candidates that included three democrats and one independent.
Steve Novick, Candy Neville and Jeff Merkley were the democratic candidates present and John Frohnmayer was present as the independent candidate.
All of the four candidates are running in hopes of taking the seat of current Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith in the upcoming November elections.
The candidates were asked questions about what their plans are if they were elected, why they would be the best candidate to run against Smith and several questions regarding the Iraq War, NAFTA and health care.
According to Carl Fisher, who helped coordinate the debate, Smith was not invited to participate.
Nearly all of the candidates stated that they wanted to get American troops out of Iraq within a relatively short amount of time. Merkley and Novick stated that they wanted to work with nations surrounding Iraq to help stabilize the country while Neville stated that the UN should be brought in to help with the stabilization after U.S. troops leave.
Each candidate gave different reasons for why he or she would do the best job in Washington.
"Republicans and democrats have gotten us into this mess, which is why I am running as an independent," said Frohnmayer. "I would like to take the best ideas from both republicans and democrats and have students pay off their loans by getting them involved in public service."
"The nation is fundamentally offtrack," said Merkley. "I would be a senator that could distinguish between national threats and manufactured threats."
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