Students Stage Mock Presidential Debate

Just hours before Sen. Barack Obama spoke to crowds in Tampa today, students in Maria Borkowski's speech class at Alonso High School staged a mock presidential encounter of their own.
Senior Greg Rumeser, 16, represented Obama, the Democratic nominee. Senior Gage Davidson, 17, represented Republican Sen. John McCain. The audience was some 200 students from other classes.
Both mock candidates said they watched some of the televised debates but did much of their research elsewhere: candidate Web sites, YouTube, talking to teachers and parents. Neither will be old enough to vote on Nov. 4, but said they wish they could.
Although vague with detail, each represented basic differences in their chosen candidate's positions on the economy, environment, education and foreign policy.
"If we lower the tax on corporations, that leaves jobs in America," Davidson (as McCain) said. "We can keep jobs here."
Rumeser (as Obama), vowed to end tax breaks for the upper class and "help people who need it the most - the middle class."
Both students talked about renewable energy as well as off-shore drilling. Each attempted to echo campaign lines of their candidates.
"It's our job as a superpower to make things safe for all nations," Davidson said.
"We can't be everywhere," said Rumeser, vowing to pull troops slowly out of Iraq.Students asked questions such as where money would come from for programs if not from taxes and specifically how much longer the U.S. would be in Iraq.
Some seemed as passionate as the debaters.
"There's a lot of fluff being thrown around," said Teddy Eumo, 17, who said both Obama and McCain are "talking around some of the issues," as did the student debaters.
Eumo is supporting Obama because, "His economic policy makes a lot of sense."
Lauren Sokolowski, 17, agreed. "I like Obama - he's for the middle class," she said. "Most of us are middle class." She and others said they feel the economic pinch, mostly in the cost of gasoline.
Some said they are not prepared to vote, even if they could.
Ryan Blood, 16, said he skipped most of the televised debates, preferring to get information from Web sites.
"In the debate, things get spinned around," he said. So far neither candidate has persuaded him.
The mock debate was tough to do, admitted Davidson: "I knew everything; I just don't think I got it out there."