On the same day that the Vice Presidential candidates were exchanging sharp words, extravagant promises and Alaskan moose jokes (that was Thursday, October 2nd for those of you not following the election), Mrs. Lehmann’s Election 2008 class was treated to its own mock debate between classmates pretending to be Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama and Vice Presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.
The classmates involved were Seti Elmasri as Obama, Andrew Budnick as McCain, Alison von Rohr as Palin, and Justin Billing as Biden. The debate took the form of question-and-answer, with Mrs. Lehmann filling in for Gwen Ifill as the moderator (Ifill was the moderator for the real VP debate).
The debate began with opening statements, and Elmasri, true to his model of Obama, delivered soaring rhetoric, invoking the words of Albus Dumbledore — it was pertinent, before you ask. The other opening statements were well-modeled to their candidates, with buzzwords left and right (“maverick” and “hockey mom” to name a few).
The students handled the debate well. The only question that gave any pause was “What does the Vice President do?”, and to this von Rohr was able to invent an answer, although Billing was more unsure. To the rest the students were able to respond with answers that were not only accurate, but a dig at their opponents as well.
“[They] put forth the best student debate I’ve ever seen,” said teacher Ms. Lehmann when asked about the debate. She added that it was a combination of their knowledge and successful mimicry of the candidates that made the debate truly memorable.
![Seniors Garrett Batt, Tom White, Emmanuel Nzaramba and Jack Calverley work together in preparation for the Spring Fling. “We decided to host this because March is kind of a slow month [in which] there’s not really that much happening, so I just thought it would be fun to put pep back into everyone so people could look forward to something this month,” senior Delcie Peter said.](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-03-20-at-10.28.14-PM-1200x832.png)
WSPN • Oct 29, 2008 at 6:30 PM
Thanks for your suggestion. WSPN’s policy is to list the full name when first mentioned, then for any subsequent references list only the last name, with no courtesy titles (Ms., Mr., etc.). Different news sources have different policies; ours is a widely accepted one. But we’ll take your comment under advisement.
Sarah Palin • Oct 29, 2008 at 4:08 PM
As a suggestion, it is more courteous to refer to the subjects of your article as Mr. Billing/Elmasri/Budnick, and Ms. von Rohr. Using just the last names sounds a bit abrupt.