Clarification appended

For tomorrow's three-party political debate, the Democrats are pulling out their secret weapon -- a freshman.

"It'll be kind of like the Notre Dame game with their freshman quarterback, but hopefully, we will fare better than he did," said Enrique Ortiz, College Democrats president, adding that the other parties don't stand a chance.

"He might be confused," said Alex Smith, College Republicans president. "He has it the other way around."

The argument will continue at 8 tonight in 104 Thomas Building, while the groups debate the topics of health care and Iraq.

With participants from the College Republicans, College Democrats and College Libertarians, and students from the Political Science Association (PSA) moderating, the match will be the first of a series of four, two-topic debates held monthly through December. Each team will feature three debaters.

With three minutes to answer questions and one-minute rebuttals, the format of the debate will feature questions geared toward a college-aged demographic.

Ortiz said each side's opinions will not necessarily comply with traditional party platforms, a marked change from last year's debates.

"It's going to be something different," he said. "It's a bit of a twist. You can turn on the TV and hear that same stuff every night. It's time to represent the views of students, not the parties."
The change was made after the imbalance of last year's discussions.

"We wanted to see more debate and less agreeing," Ortiz said. "Last year, at the end, we all agreed that we had to get out of Iraq, but we didn't know how."

Amanda Blunt, president of PSA, said the topics, including taxes, gun control and campaign finance reform, will aim to increase political awareness.

Originally, today's discussion of foreign policy was not a favorable choice, she said.

"We didn't really want to talk about Iraq, but we figured it could be a good idea if approached from the right angle," Blunt said. "Some people feel like it's beating a dead horse, and we don't want to bombard the audience with things they have been hearing for the past three years."

In addition to tomorrow's debate, the November discussion will prove to be the "most interesting," Ortiz said, with students representing the individual views of John McCain, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson. Richardson will be visiting Penn State this year, Ortiz added.
Alex Weller, College Libertarians president, said he hopes the debate will stir awareness of his group's ideas.

"I hope that many students will be exposed to Libertarianism and learn a little something about it," he said.

Ortiz said other groups, like Young Americans for Freedom and EcoAction, may take part in future debates, adding to the diverse discussion.

Blunt said though the discussions in the past have gotten heated, tomorrow's debate will be kept fairly civil.

Ortiz agreed: "There will be some bickering. Tempers will be flaring. We will hope to keep it PG. Nothing too out there. Maybe PG-13. Maybe."

This story is unclear about the date of the debate. It will be held at 8 tonight in 104 Thomas Building.