UTM College Republicans and College Democrats faced off Monday night in the Watkins Auditorium in an effort to convince students and community leaders to vote for their candidates. Topics for the debate included domestic and foreign policy.

Representing the College Republicans were Jennifer Ogg and Christin Hayes, and representing the College Democrats were John Lankford and Wil Hammond.

UTM Prof. Emeritus Ted Mosch fielded questions prepared in advance by both sides, while SGA Chief Justice Beau Pemberton kept the official time.

After the formal debate, a particularly charged audience question-and-answer session ensued.

Emotions were tense when the representatives faced off concerning the ongoing war in Iraq, the economy and healthcare.

Throughout the ninety-minute debate, Democrats frequently characterized the Bush administration as having lied to the American people.

“We have a problem with the truth in Washington,” Hammond said. “We went to war in Iraq based on weapons of mass destruction, and there were none.”

Republicans continually pegged Democratic presidential candiate Sen. John Kerry as a “flip-flopper,” who changes his position on issues frequently.

“On Iraq alone, John Kerry has changed his position on Iraq at least 10 times,” said Republican Christin Hayes.”

Concerning the war in Iraq, where more than 1,000 American soldiers have died since March 2003, Ogg said the war “is absolutely a success. Anything else is to demean the troops in Iraq. Our goal was to free the Iraqi people.”

Democrats were less enthusiastic about the ongoing military campaign, however. Referring to a massive sign saying “Mission Accomplished” placed behind Pres. Bush last year on an aircraft carrier, Hammond said, “The mission is not accomplished. Just today, a car bomb went off and killed 46 people in Iraq. This is not mission accomplished. This is mission yet to come.”

Mosch asked both representatives about America’s credibility in the world, where Ogg said, “Pres. Bush’s primary concern is the American people, not the world. I believe that John Kerry is a weak leader who would undermine America’s fate.”

“When we were fighting Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, the president did the same thing he did at home. He outsourced the job to a bunch of warlords, rather than the most trained force in the world,” Hammond rebutted.

SGA Secretary-General Okwede Okoh said, “Students should remember that what’s said here tonight may or may not be aligned with the opinions of the candidates.”