UF students discussed the presidential candidates' policies and how they would affect students now and in the long-run in a debate Thursday night.
The event, hosted by UF's Black Political Science Association, featured a face-off between representatives Joshua Simmons of Gators for McCain and Peter Laumann of UF Students for Barack Obama.
About 30 people attended the event in the Ocora Room in Pugh Hall.
Although five other debates are set to occur on the UF campus, the association's president, Freddy Williams, said that well-versed students addressing their peers would offer a unique and necessary perspective.
Each organization was asked to select the most qualified representative to speak on behalf of the club and to address the questions as the candidate would without any personal input.
The two representatives focused on each candidate's plan to restore American jobs and fix bad money loans for mortgages as well as the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.
Simmons, a UF mathematics and economics senior, said this money would not come in a briefcase, but the amount would be the most money available if the country needs it.
Simmons and Laumann, a UF political science and economics senior, agreed that the economy was hurting but said their candidates differed on balancing the national budget.
Simmons said McCain would help individuals instead of large corporations, while Laumann said Obama would avoid money trickling down, would give money to people now and would cut business loopholes.
Simmons and Laumann also discussed how this money management would affect education.
Obama plans to give out $4,000 per year to students who finish at least 100 hours of community service, Laumann said.
Simmons said that sounded too much like a job, and McCain would rather simplify the FAFSA process and financial aid.
The safety of the U.S. and the Iraq war were also on the agenda.
Laumann described Obama's plan to draw down troops within 16 to 19 months and finish business in Afghanistan.
"Leaving is not losing if we leave behind a strong country," he said. "The Taliban are stronger in Afghanistan now than they have been at any point after Sept. 11."
On the other hand, Simmons applauded Obama's consistency on his position but said people don't realize that the U.S. is winning in Iraq.
He said the U.S. will leave when it needs to, although he doesn't know when that will be, and it is the country's duty to maintain its goals.
Both Laumann and Simmons emphasized the importance of finding issues that everyone deems problems and are not based on partisanship.
They said their candidates would not look at the country as either all red or blue, but they would work from their experience.
"We're the greatest nation in the world," Simmons said. "We deserve a government that will help our citizens and doesn't talk about changing politics as usual."
