With just over three weeks to the election, the Harper Center was transformed inside and out into the set of a political battle Tuesday night. Outside, students waved signs and cheered for the two congressional candidates debating, Jim Esch, Democrat, and Congressman Lee Terry, Republican.

Inside the building, the two prepared in their separate corners, each clad in dark suits, respective poitical colors the essential flag pins.

Creighton hosted the second political debate between the candidates since they ran against each other two years ago. The full-house event kicked off with a topic on everyone’s minds: the economy.

“Congress decided to look the other way, and that lack of oversight caused Wall Street to do whatever it wanted,” Esch said, starting off the night.

Esch blamed Terry for helping cause the problem, referring to the banking reform bill of 1999, the biggest change in the banking system since the Great Depression. It overhauled federal rules governing the way financial institutions operate and eliminated oversight.

“Overregulation can be harmful,” Terry said in response. “[Omaha’s] economy is healthy. Our banks were not reckless. Our housing market is sound and our farms are doing well.”

Still, Terry said the slow economy was creeping toward the Heartland, and he said Esch would hurt middle-class Nebraskans by raising taxes.

Esch disagreed.

“I never said I would raise taxes,” Esch said. “I just think we need to start paying for things again. We have a $10 trillion deficit, and I will not pass that on to the next generation.”

One program Esch was speaking of paying for was college education. He said students should be able to go to college and the government would forgive some or all of those loans if the student agreed to volunteer their talets after graduation. Terry agreed education was a serious issue.

“We need to make sure that anyone who wants to go to college can,” Terry said. “I voted to increase Pell grants, and I want to make loans more available.”

One area where they didn’t agree was energy.

“I want to do everything. We need to do everything,” Terry said after the debate. “My opponent wants to do some, but it’s that last step of drilling in our coastal waters and possibly in the ANWR [Arctic Native Wildlife Refuge] that is important.”

Katy Spratte, Arts & Sciences junior and president of College Republicans, said it was invigorating hearing the candidates live at Creighton, and it’s great that candidates are paying attention to this campus.

Spratte volunteers for the Terry campaign and said he is a “very nice, down-to-earth man.”

“It might just be my bias, but it seemed like Jim Esch came off a little condescending,” she said. “Overall, though, I think they were both respectful.”

Analise Harris, Arts & Sciences junior and president of Creighton’s chapter of the NAACP, was the student moderator and asked the candidates questions that faculty, staff and students submitted.

“I was approached by Micah White [president of Creighton Students Union] about being a moderator,” Harris said in an email interview. “How could I turn it down?”

She said she was honored to be a part of an official political debate and was proud to be a part of Creighton history.

As an outspoken student activist, Harris said it was hard to remain stoic, especially when audience members were cheering and heckling.

“After some of the comments from the candidates I wish I was in the audience to boo the response or at least react,” she said.