PRESIDENTIAL ISSUES DEBATED AT UNIVERSITY

The discourse Thursday night at Academic Auditorium careened from Keynesian economics to whether people want their children to be born with three eyes. When it was over after an hour and a half, President George Bush's minions had easily defeated Democratic challenger Bill Clinton's forces in a debate between rival political clubs on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

Repeating a theme of "How are you going to pay for that?" the College Republicans whipped the Young Democrats 8-2 before an audience of about 75 people.

Five students of each persuasion debated the economy, education, social issues, the environment and foreign policy before a panel of judges.

The Republican debaters rallied around Bush's record and challenged in detail Clinton's 12-year record as governor of Arkansas. The Democrats targeted Bush's job performance as well and asked, "Isn't it time for a change?"

One of the most spirited dialogues occurred between Republican Michael Session of Cape Girardeau and Democrat Anthony Caramatti of St. Louis in their debate over the economy.

Session, a grad student who is an editorial writer for the Capaha Arrow, said "Clinton appeals to class envy" and maintained "his values conflict with our own."

"...Clinton will make things worse," Session said.

Challenged by Session to differentiate between the economic policies of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Caramatti responded, "What we should be concerned with here is whether the economic policies of the last 12 years have worked."

Freshman Stephen Owen of Cape Girardeau, one of the youngest of the debaters, and Republican opponent Nathan Cooper of Caledonia disagreed over whether Bush had fully funded the Head Start program.

Cooper repeated now-familiar charges about Clinton's character and asked whether voters want the next generation looking up to him as a leader for the next four years.

Owen criticized Bush's record in education and said a vote for Clinton is "a vote for the millions of children in this country who need and deserve an education."

Republican Christy Stovall of Cape Girardeau charged that Clinton's plan for bringing health care costs under control will result in higher prices instead.

She said the U.S. does not want to follow the lead of Canada, England and Sweden into a failed system of nationalized health care.

In the debate over the environment, Republican Michael Huntington of St. Louis said Clinton's allegedly poor environmental record in Arkansas and running mate Al Gore's "environmental extremism" gives the Democrats "an environmentally schizophrenic ticket."

His opponent, Christina Schneider of Matthews, warned that the country is poisoning itself into extreme environmental danger of the three-eyed baby kind.

"It's time to elect a real environmental president," she said.