Same Game in Vegas

A rowdy, sometimes enthusiastic, and always animated audience of students left the University of Nevada Las Vegas after Thursday night’s Democratic debate wondering if the seven Democratic candidates had even answered any of their questions.

The Cox Pavillion, home to the state’s premier athletic contests and musical concerts, held the CNN Democratic Presidential debate, a historic first in Nevada history. People from around the country joined Las Vegans to view the seven Democratic hopefuls live on CNN and online at CNN.com.

Candidates answered questions concerning the war in Iraq, immigration and border security, foreign policy, health care, social security and Yucca Mountain, which is an increasingly hot issue in Nevada.

After the debate, UNLV students questioned if they received any straight answers from the candidates.

“A lot of the debate was the candidates going around the questions,” said Kenthea Fogenay, a UNLV junior and a broadcast journalism major. “You were left wondering; what was the answer to the question. [The candidates] were mostly sarcastic and funny.”

Adrian Viesca, a senior majoring in political science, praised Sen. Barack Obama’s response on Yucca Mountain, in which he said Nevada should not be responsible for the waste that other states produce.

“[Gov. Bill] Richardson talked a lot about Yucca Mountain and his plans to go against it,” Fogenay said. “He gave a lot of options I haven’t even heard.”

Viesca said students were expecting to get more forthright responses to questions. “I think the candidates wanted to talk on broad problems but students wanted to hear direct answers,” said Viesca.

Chelsea Schwarz, a UNLV student majoring in elementary education, noticed that instead of responding directly to CNN’s moderators or citizen questioners, the candidates immediately criticized the actions of their fellow Democrats or the Republican Party.

“It was more like a blame game [than a debate],” she said.

Schwarz added that it felt as though many of issues were put directly on the Bush administration, and even though Bush has contributed to the problems, he shouldn’t receive all the responsibility.

Viesca took a different view on why the evening seemed like a “blame game.”

“I think all the candidates are at a point were they all have a long voting record and they can look at [each other’s] voting records and see where they voted on something in the past but have changed their mind now,” said Viesca. He said that debate over their past votes and “flip-flopping” might seem like a blame game.

“None of these candidates are perfect,” he added.

Some of the answers throughout the night were clear to audience members, such as whether illegal immigrants should be eligible for driver’s licenses. Even though a direct question took more than 10 minutes to answer, when asked to reply “yes” or “no,” Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Joe Biden answered “no,” without further comment.

Both Obama and former Sen. Edwards avoided answering the question directly. Obama responded, “I am not proposing that that’s what we do.”

Edwards said that in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform he would not support granting driver’s licenses for illegal immigrations. He added, however, “I don’t accept the proposition that we’re not going to have comprehensive immigration reform.”

A second direct question—whether human rights were more important than national security—also provoked mixed responses.

“Obviously, national security, keeping this country safe,” said Sen. Chris Dodd. Clinton agreed with Dodd’s comment, saying “The first obligation as president of the United States is to protect and defend the United States of America.” She added that focusing on national security doesn’t exclude other interests.

Again, both Obama and Edwards avoided answering the question directly. “The concepts are not contradictory. They are complementary,” Obama explained. Edwards related his question to the fragile situation in Pakistan.

“How can you pick one or the other,” said Schwarz. “It is not an either-or issue. It is a balance.”

Fogenay agreed with Schwarz that the issue is a chicken and egg dilemma. “The question itself was weird,” added Fogenay. “I think you need both.”

“It was interesting too that Clinton and Obama were dominating the debate,” said Viesca.

From the outset, Clinton was questioned about her response at the last debate concerning her stance of whether illegal immigrants should receive driver’s licenses. From there, it spiraled into a debate between Clinton and Obama.

“I thought it was interesting at first,” added Fogenay. “Then I realized that neither Biden nor any of the other candidates were getting a chance to speak. Wolf Blitzer should have interjected and opened it up to all the candidates.”