David Axelrod, democratic campaign strategist for President Barack Obama, and Mike Murphy, a retired Republican strategist who has worked various state and national campaigns, visited Northwestern on Monday to participate in a debate organized by NU College Democrats. The political experts spoke about a range of topics, but much of the time was devoted to economic policy and education. The debate took place at Cahn Auditorium in front of a crowd of more than 250 students.
The event kept true to the debate format – it began with opening statements followed by a series of questions and ended with closing statements – but did not have the feel of a debate, Weinberg freshman Jonathan Muller said.
“I found it hard to declare a winner and a loser because it was less of a debate and more of a discussion,” Muller said. “If it wasn’t framed as a debate, I wouldn’t have known it was one.”
Also contributing to the lack of a typical debate format was the fact that the Republican primary has yet to be decided. Although Axelrod spoke in support of President Obama’s agenda, Murphy did not support or defend a single candidate. Instead, he analyzed the field of Republican candidates.
“A lot of the debate was about the politics, not the policy,” Weinberg freshman Tom Cui said.
While the two campaign strategists laid out ideological differences on issues such as tax policy, they disagreed less on the politics of campaigning and likely political strategies in the upcoming presidential election.
The debate was organized after Axelrod’s agents contacted College Democrats about an event on campus. In return, the group proposed the idea of a debate like the one they organized last year between former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean and current Republican primary candidate Rick Santorum, said Josh Noah, president of College Democrats.
“Axelrod was interested in going around and talking to college campuses to try and probably get the youth vote energized,” the Weinberg junior said.
Noah said one of the motivators behind including Murphy in the debate was the friendship Murphy and Axelrod share, a relationship they both mentioned during the debate. That contributed to a lighthearted atmosphere, and Murphy especially had a casual tone, Noah said. Murphy’s closing statement consisted of two words: “Vote Republican.”
Despite the jokes, the two shared serious moments of optimism about their work in politics.
“I am not cynical,” Axelrod said. “Despite all my experiences, I still have great faith in this country, in our system, and you guys being here gives me even greater faith.”
