Democratic Debate Watch

Georgetown College Democrats, along with the Georgetown Institute for Politics and Public Service, hosted a viewing of the first Democratic Primary debate on October 13th. The event was held in the Great Room of the Healy Family Student center, and students were almost literally crawling the walls to get a look at the candidates. Mo Elleithee, the director of the IPPS, moderated the event and, during breaks would ask the audience and specific groups questions about the candidates performances, like asking Bernie Sanders ‘s supporters if they thought he was tough enough on gun control reform or Hillary Clinton’s supporters about her Iraq response.

In addition to simply viewing the debate, attendees got a change to Skype in with IPPS fellow Brianna Keiler, a CNN Senior Political Correspondent, who was at the debate site in Las Vegas. She took everybody back stage, and showed us conversations between each candidate’s advisors and the ‘spin rooms’, where staffers try and promote each candidate. Overall, it was a unique experience and a great start to the Democratic primary season.