Chattanooga State Community College students fired questions today at six candidates running for Tennessee’s 3rd District congressional seat.
The forum, held today at the Chattanooga State campus, was billed as a way for the candidates to connect with students. Questions ranged from news-of-the-day queries to narrow questions about issues as specific as federal child support payment laws.
Republicans Tommy Crangle, Chuck Fleischmann, Tim Gobble, Van Irion and Robin Smith attended the forum, as did independent Art Rhodes.
Republican John Whitley and independents Mark DeVol and Greg Goodwin also are candidates, but didn’t attend the forum.
No Democrats are currently in the race.
The candidates are seeking to fill the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., who is running for Tennessee governor.
At the forum, candidates all agreed that the nation’s economy was the top priority. They pitched ideas ranging from a flat tax to a line-item veto to solve the problem.
All said they wanted to hear indications of a major policy shift from President Barack Obama tonight during his 9 p.m. State of the Union address.
The student questioners said the candidates answered many of the questions, but there was some dodging.
“I don’t think some of the questions were directly answered,” said student Ted Nelson, who asked about homeland security in light of the Christmas Day attempted airline bombing. “I got the feeling that some of the candidates weren’t even really aware of the topics.”
For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.