Rohan Rajagopalan ’14: The Young Democrats and Young Republicans Clubs will debate the most important issues of the 2012 presidential election in front of the entire school on November 2nd. The Junto Board will be moderating the debate and is currently in the process of generating questions to ask both sides.
The debate will be structured into three sections: first, both sides will begin with a one-minute opening statement, followed by joint questioning, and concluded with a three-minute rebuttal.
Rohan Gulati ’13, Co-President of the Young Democrats Club and a member of the Junto Board, was excited about the format, recognizing that having “questions, responses from both sides, and some time for rebuttals will keep consistency with how the actual presidential debates are.” (Gulati has not attended recent Junto meetings so as to remain uninformed of the questions to come.)
Unlike the presidential debates, both clubs will have multiple representatives speaking. Chris Fenimore ’13, Teddy Ibarguen ’13 and Alex Rice ’13 are expected to represent the Young Republicans, while Rohan Gulati ’13, Mimi McCann ’13 and Daniel Saedi ’13 are billed to debate on behalf of the Young Democrats.
Both clubs view this debate as an opportunity to spread the word about their respective candidates and have already begun preparing for November 2nd, focusing on research and strategy.
The upcoming presidential debates, beginning on October 3rd, have the potential to either make or break a candidate’s campaign. Fenimore stated his belief that “Debates should play a bigger role. It lets [candidates] speak from the heart.”
He also added “The debates let the people hear the message of the candidate without media biases.”
Gulati agreed, asserting “In an election as close as this one, the debates could be the difference that sways some voters.”
Both clubs have requested that the audience put their predispositions aside during the debate and listen to the opinions of both sides.