It was an emotional crowd at the Congressman Jim Oberstar and challenger Chip Cravaak forum on Tuesday, Oct. 19. A crowd filled the main level of the DECC auditorium and didn't heed the requests of forum moderators Dave Orman or Chuck Fredrick to keep the event civil.At the beginning Orman told the crowd that there had been a fist fight in the skywalk (which this blogger thought was a joke, but apparently not). He asked the crowd to refrain from "cat-calling, booing and cheering." Chuck Fredrick, editor of the opinion section of the Duluth News Tribune also referred to how they edit letters for civility.
But the polite requests were not heeded.
When Oberstar was introduced cheering arose from the crowd. As Cravaack was introduced an even louder crowd jumped to its feet cheering.
The audience submitted questions as the debate style forum started. It turned into a typical liberal versus conservative debate with liberals blaming conservatives for giving tax cuts to the rich and conservatives blaming liberals for spending too much.
The debate was sponsored by the Duluth Chamber of Commerce, The Duluth News Tribune and St. Luke's.
You can listen to an audio report from MPR here.
If you know where there is a full audio of the whole "forum" please let us know.
