Republican incumbent Christopher Shays, Democrat Diane Farrell, Libertarian Philip Maymin and Green Party candidate Richard Duffee took part in the debate, which was presented by the Open VISIONS Forum of University College at Fairfield and the Fairfield University Student Association. Representatives from the Young Democrats, College Republicans, WVOF Radio, Ham TV Channel, The Mirror newspaper and the Debate Team posed questions to the audience.

During the debate, each of the student representatives posed a primary question to each candidate, which was then offered to each of the remaining candidates in the form of a one-minute rebuttal. Each candidate also was permitted to make opening and closing statements. The public also had a brief opportunity to direct questions to the candidates.

Philip Eliasoph, a professor of visual and performing arts and director of the university's Open VISIONS Forum, moderated the debate. Eliasoph said the goal of the debate was to provide the audience with the opportunity to "deliberate and carefully weigh" the views expressed by the candidates in order to make an informed decision on Election Day. Prior to the debate, Eliasoph told the audience that he was hopeful that the evening would be "balanced, objective and fair," while allowing the "sharing of ideas" among a broad array of political parties.

The questions posed from the student representatives and the audience ranged from international and global issues to those on more national and local levels.

Opening Statements

Shays took the floor first, explaining to the crowd that he is "not a partisan" politician. "I believe that we need to be Americans first and Republican and Democrats second."

Farrell then outlined what would become her theme for the evening by posing three questions to the audience. "One, where Chris Shays, a 19-year incumbent, has agreed with President Bush and the Republican majority party has it been good for the country? I think about the war in Iraq and I think about our fiscal debts and deficit. Two, where he has differed with the president has it changed the outcome? Think about minimum wage, the environment, stem cell research. Third, can we afford another three years without checks and balances?"

Maymin then took the stage, explaining to the crowd that the Libertarian Party "is known as the party of principle."

"What is the principle? The principle is freedom of liberty," Maymin said. "You know what to do with your life better than the government knows what to do with your life. The problem we have is not the Republican or Democratic government, there is virtually no difference between them. A Libertarian always votes for smaller government, fewer taxes, more freedom, happiness for everybody."

Duffee concluded the opening comments by expressing his primary concern for the future of the nation. "What I'm most concerned about is that we are progressively giving up our democratic and Constitutional privileges."

Setting a timetable for troop withdrawal in Iraq

On the issue of the war in Iraq, Shays told the audience that although the United States "saw amazing progress in 18 months, in my judgment," since January of this year "there has been very little progress."

Shays explained that part of his solution in addressing the conflict would involve "getting the Iraqis to know there's a definite time we're leaving and getting the Iraqis to sit down in reconciliation to deal with constitutional issues, oil issues, amnesty issues." Shays said he would also like to see the outside countries meet together to talk about the future of Iraq. "My Democratic opponent has benchmarks, she has no definitive dates, nothing to instill the Iraqis to move forward, to push them."

Farrell rebutted Shays' remarks, stating that he "went to Iraq 13 times and said progress was being made. He came back after the 14th trip following a Democratic primary when he realized his position was unpopular."

"Congressman Shays wants to suggest I'm behind the times, but benchmarking is a small portion of what I'm recommending," Farrell said. "We need to be negotiating a cease-fire, right now. The president said today no to a timeline. We don't have a strategy yet."

Maymin then addressed the crowd. "The difference between my opponents and me is that I actually have an exit strategy," he said. "It's a deadline, it comes with an actual date. The deadline is July 4, 2007, Independence Day. It's the only exit strategy I've heard tonight."

Duffee, meanwhile, felt that the U.S. invasion of Iraq "was a clear violation of international law and violated Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, which we wrote."

"It was entirely hypocritical and in bad taste for us to invade," he added. "The entire Bush administration lied in order to do it. They continuously forced the CIA to come up with new reports claiming that there were weapons of mass destruction. We should be paying reparations to the Iraqis in the same way that we demanded ex-Nazis and Germans to pay reparations to the Jews. We should admit we were wrong, pay reparations and never do it again."

Addressing the threat imposed from North Korea

On the issue of the recent incident of North Korea testing a nuclear device, Farrell called the incident "a great concern" and said it was her belief that "this administration has made an enormous mistake by ignoring this issue for effectively five years."

She then urged the audience to "think about something broader" by realizing the United States' position as "the world's largest remaining superpower."

"It is more important to talk to your enemies than it is to talk to your friends," she said. "We have chosen not to have dialogue. I can't think of a single instance in the last six years where this has resulted in a better foreign policy."

Farrell added that while the U.N. Security Council recently took "an important first step" in taking sanctions against North Korea, she was hopeful that the United Nations would continue to move toward sanctions with other countries posing threats, particularly Iran.

"This administration has got to understand, when we don't talk, we end up with these kinds of actions; it's just plain wrong."

Maymin said, "I don't mean to be rude sanctions are stupid, they don't work. Look at Cuba, we have sanctions there, they haven't worked."

In response to Farrell's charge that the issue was created by the current administration, Maymin said, "The problem is a problem of the last 53 years. It's a problem both [Democrats and Republicans] have created."

Maymin also said the United States "is essentially paying [North Korea] to do it" by giving aid to foreign countries. "We would not have any of these problems that we have now if we simply followed a neutral policy," he said. "Dialogues only involve giving money to North Korea. The dialogue we need to have is to have the millions of people participating in the free market trading with each other. That's where true peace comes from."

Duffee said, "The North Koreans have their nuclear program because they believe if they did not have a nuclear program, they would be vulnerable to invasion. If you look at Iraq and Afghanistan it's very plausible."

"There are a number of countries that have concluded the same thing," he added. "They concluded that the only way to be able to negotiate with us is to have nuclear bombs because otherwise they'd never be taken seriously. What we are running into is the limit of our ability to control the world by force and fear. We are now so frightening that other countries believe they must be armed to defend themselves against us."

Shays ended the discussion with: "I don't want to be rude, but embargoes are not foolish look at South Africa." He then detailed his belief that "the only way we can change [the situation in] North Korea is to bring South Korea, China, Japan and Russia to the table. If they're not there, ultimately these countries will walk away and leave it on our shoulders, and we won't see the progress we need."

Genocide in Darfur

When asked what his position was on the genocide occurring in the world, specifically in the African country of Darfur, Duffee expressed his belief that the U.S. record for humanitarian relief, particularly by military means, is "rather poor."

"If we are going to go in with any kind of troops, I think it has to be multilateral," Duffee said. "And far more important is offering whatever means we can and trying to separate [the groups involved in the genocide]."

Shays said the situation in Darfur is one very familiar to him as he visited Northern Darfur during his most recent trip to Iraq. "I'll tell you first what we can't do, we can't send American troops," Shays said. "We'd like to see better-qualified African troops; we have provided a billion and a half dollars, we are feeding about half the people. Our effort in Darfur is quite impressive. In Darfur, we have been taking the lead," Shays said of the U.S. government.

Farrell, meanwhile, chided the current administration, which "took a long time to recognize the fact that there was a genocide taking place." Farrell also felt that the war in Iraq "has distracted us from some very real dangers that are taking place on the African continent." However, Farrell also acknowledged that "we do have to give the administration credit for having stepped up to the extent that they have."

Farrell explained that she would like to see neighboring countries, particularly the Chinese, be encouraged to assist in the Darfur genocide, adding that "the more we can do to encourage them will make an enormous difference."

Finally, Maymin told the audience that he did not believe that "the federal government should send a dime to Darfur."

"If you point a gun at people, collect their money, and send it to Africa, are you a good person?" Maymin asked. "That's what my opponents want to do. I think it's wrong to take money from people that's not yours at the force of a gun. You can send your money voluntarily; I support that, that's free market. But to force other people to do it when you can spend your money on something better? That's wrong."

Improving Public Education

When asked what her plan for improving public education would be if elected, Farrell said she would not support the use of public funds for private school vouchers. She also spoke about the achievement gap, an issue that she said is a reality in the state and the nation.

"I'm going to be focusing on Bridgeport and Stamford and Norwalk when we talk about the fourth district," Farrell said. "This is about qualified teachers, this is about reasonable class size. This is what has to happen in order to make a difference."

Farrell also referenced Stamford, calling its preschool program for all children regardless of their economic circumstances "a wonderful model."

"That's a model we're working toward, especially in our urban centers," she said.

Duffee said the problem facing the U.S. educational system is the use of property tax to fund it. "Funding education by property taxes is profoundly inequitable," he said. "There are some 20 other countries that score higher than we do in math and science. Those countries have less difference between the rich and the poor than we do and they tend to have national funding in education."

Maymin felt that rather than the government controlling education, parents should decide the education of their children. "There are so many wonderful things that the free market could do that the federal government is preventing it from doing," he said. "We need to get rid of the Department of Education and give the money back to the taxpayers so that they can decide what they want for their children."

Shays, however, said he was "grateful that there are alternatives" for the nation's students. He also felt that issues such as the No Child Left Behind Act could be improved in order to be fair with students for whom English is a second language or those with special education needs.

Shays also added that his focus would continue to be in his district's cities. "I believe the most important thing I can do to help the local community is to help the urban areas, because by helping the urban areas we're helping the rest of the fourth district," he said.