Campus set to hold debate
The five candidates for the Republican nomination in the U.S. Senate race will visit Franklin College for a debate Monday less than a month before the field will be narrowed to one.
The five – Winchester businessman Don Bates Jr., Fishers plumber Richard Behney, former U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats and current state Sen. Marlin Stutzman – are vying for the Republican nomination in the race to fill Democrat Sen. Evan Bayh’s seat. The event comes 15 days before the May primary.
Director of the Pulliam School of Journalism and an adviser to The Franklin, John Krull, will moderate the debate. He said planning began in January. Indiana Republican Party Vice Chair and Johnson County Republican Party Chair Sandi Huddleston approached each candidate about participating.
“Fortunately, they all agreed,” Krull said.
He called the debate an “exceptional learning opportunity for our students.” It will bring state and possibly national attention and news coverage to Franklin, but the lasting effect is with the students who attend and participate, he said.
“What they learn here, what they take out of here, stretches across generations,” Krull said.
Franklin College President Jay Moseley agreed. He said he wants the debate to make students more politically involved.
“I hope it energizes the student body about political issues and candidates,” Moseley said. “I wish more students took an active interest and role in off-campus politics, real world issues.”
Junior Whitney Howard and freshman Matt Brems said they plan to attend the debate. Though Howard identifies herself as a Democrat and Brems identifies himself as a Republican, they both said they view political discussion as an integral part of a liberal arts education.
For Monday’s debate, Howard said she wants to hear the Republican candidates explain their positions, as well as argue against the Democratic opinion. They should try to persuade her and other Democrats to vote for them, she said.
“I’m going to vote for whoever is best for the job,” said Howard, a political science major.
Brems plans to attend part of the debate between classes, but he cannot vote in the primary; he is registered to vote in Cincinnati, his home city. The math and economics major said political involvement is important to every student regardless of major or voting area because it “fosters great discussion.”
“Even though I can’t vote and I don’t really have a say in who gets elected in this Senate election, it’s still an important part of our lives,” he said.
Brems, Howard, Moseley and Krull all said health care will be an important issue on Monday. The economy and some social issues may also be topics raised. Moseley said politics has become “more of a back and forth of denunciation and finger-pointing than anyone outlining coherent, rational positions.”
“Instead of having the attack, I would rather hear what their alternative position is on whatever issue they think is important” he said. “I think the American people are hungry for that. There’s very little of it in the air these days.”
