Two former Gators who have risen to political power addressed the impact a new president would have on Florida.
Florida Reps. Adam Putnam and Allen Boyd spoke to an audience of about 150 people in the Ocora Room in Pugh Hall at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. The event was part of the Bob Graham Center for Public Service's lecture series "The Path to the White House."
The discussion was moderated by Brendan McLaughlin of ABC Action News, who polled the audience to show about 60 percent John McCain supporters and 40 percent Barack Obama supporters.
Both legislators keyed in on major issues of the election, such as the American financial crisis. Boyd, the House of Representatives' chairman of agricultural appropriations sub-committee, said even economists still could not understand the enormity of the problem because of unregulated financial markets.
"The policy of current government is that we can buy, buy, buy and spend, spend, spend and tell the American people they don't have to pay for it," Boyd said.
UF political science junior Kate Dunbar said, "I thought the coverage of the financial crisis was very informative and fair and probably the most important topic they addressed."
The legislators also discussed the problem of Florida's offshore oil drilling in relation to the nation's energy crisis.
Putnam said he and Boyd both thought America should become less dependent on others and search for alternative sources of energy.
"We're not out to make the Russians or Iranians happy. That's not what it's about at all," Boyd said. "It's ultimately to have our kids point to the Middle East on a map and say, 'What a fascinating part of the world, but how irrelevant they are to our source of energy.'"
Boyd said that if the election was just based on the stance of the economy alone, Obama would win, but McCain had the country's confidence in terms foreign policy and security.
