Gubernatorial candidates Haley Barbour and Ronnie Musgrove reiterated familiar campaign themes Monday night during their second of four debates.
The debate, sponsored by the Student Association, was held in a packed McComas Hall auditorium. The event marked the first time Mississippi State has hosted a gubernatorial debate.
Democratic incumbent Musgrove claimed Barbour is a Washington lobbyist who is out of touch with average Mississippians. Musgrove also chastised him for running a negative campaign.
Republican Barbour responded by criticising Musgrove for making negative statements “from the first day of his campaign.” Barbour attacked Musgrove for excessive spending in his administration, especially in Medicare and the Department of Corrections.
Both candidates repeatedly accused each other of “not shooting straight.”
Barbour and Musgrove were not the only people being criticized. Outside McComas Hall, several students protested because of the few tickets available to students not affailiated with any political party.
“This would be one opportunity in my life where I could see such an event,” said senior Erin Melaney.
About 50 tickets were available to the general student population, said SA Vice President Juan McCullum.
SA President Josh Blades said the campaigns took most of the tickets over the objections of the SA.
“We had no idea that the campaigns would demand 160 tickets,” he said.
One of the questions posed by moderators Terry Smith of WTVA in Tupelo and Brian Hawkins of the Starkville Daily News had to do with maintaining higher education funding.
“If you want to know why tuition has gone up in our universities by 30 percent since Gov. Musgrove became governor, the reason is because we’ve taken tremendous cuts,” Barbour said. “I am committed to restoring funding to our universities and community colleges.”
Barbour said several agencies had overspent their budget during the Musgrove administration.
Musgrove said Barbour’s claim that his administration overspent the budget was bogus.
“There is no way a state agency in Mississippi can overspend its budget. It is against the law,” Musgrove said.
Musgrove pointed out that Mississippi was the only state in the nation that did not raise tuition for public universities in the past year.
Barbour said the College Board had raised tuition 30 percent during the first three years of Musgrove’s term.
Both candidates said they support the “truth in sentencing law” that forces prisoners to serve 85 percent of their sentence. However, they differed sharply on the fiscal management of state prisons during Musgrove’s term.
“We’ve got to run the prison system like a business,” Barbour said. He said he would utilize private prisons as a way to save tax dollars.
Musgrove defended his record, saying that the Department of Correction had achieved accredition for the first time ever during his administration. He also said that the state had cut the cost of housing a prisoner by over $1,000 during his term.
Sophomore Keeyon Scott said Musgrove won the debate. “I support Musgrove because he’s from Mississippi and will work for Mississippi,” Scott said.
Freshman Suzie Hornor said Barbour presented himself better than Musgrove. “Haley Barbour approached the debate with a more mature attitude,” she said.
The intensity of the two candidates surprised her.
“It was a lot more heated than I expected,” Hornor said.