Harvard Law Students Hold Rowdy Pre-Debate

If the Harvard Law School decided this year's presidential election, Al Gore '69 might be on top.

Those are the results of a straw poll conducted after a debate last night between the Harvard Law School Democrats and the school's Republican Club, entitled "Grudge Match 2000: Dems vs. GOP."

Around 200 students attended a sometimes-rowdy debate that included chanting and booing. The BBC covered the event for broadcast on British television and featured free beer for audience members.

At the conclusion of the debate, the moderator called for a division of the house and the Gore won with a two-thirds majority.

Timothy R. Shannon, Megan A. Jones and Michael J. Gottlieb--all law school students--represented the Gore campaign.

Law students Mike G. Adams, Chris J. Ward and Megan R. Leef argued for George W. Bush.

The debates, on the subject of whether Bush should be elected president, were based on the Oxford format, in which each debater speaks for seven minutes on the resolution at hand. After the first minute, anyone can rise to ask the speaker a question. This goes on for five minutes, with the last minute reserved for the speaker.

Both sides used rhetorical tactics. Adams compared the Clinton administration and Gore to a "bad doggie."

Shannon disagreed.

"It is about where we go from here," he said of the election. "Al Gore wants to take this country forward, George W. Bush wants to take us to Texas."

Each of these statements produced a loud reaction from the opposing sides.

Gottlieb mocked the Republican candidate, saying, "I thank you for providing the easiest target since Dan Quayle."

But Adams praised Bush's honesty.

"If the last eight years tell us anything, they tell us to have a president tell us the truth," he said.

The debaters discussed issues from the economy and campaign finance reform to issues that hit closer to home.

"Higher education is not a priority for George W. Bush," Jones said.

But Leef said Bush has devoted time and attention to the issue.

"He has made higher education the cornerstone of his campaign," she said.

Last night's event was organized as a prelude to today's debate between Gore and Bush at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

"This event is giving the partisans on both sides a chance to inform the law school about the issues," said Charles E. Border, treasurer of the Law Democrats--one of the groups that organized the event.

The debate has been in the works for the last two weeks since the announcement of the Boston debate, Border said.

Debaters acknowledged that students would have to wait until tonight to hear the real thing.

"We are here as surrogates of the candidates. We do not know all the answers," Ward said.

Audience member Jeff Rosenfeld, a second-year law school student, said he wished the debate had addressed some other topics.

"A lot of issues were not covered like abortion and the Supreme Court," he said.