Geoff Davis and Ken Lucas went head to head, representing opposite sides of the political spectrum at the Oct. 19 4th Congressional District debate, held in Northern Kentucky University’s Regents Hall.

The War in Iraq, the future of the United States and the candidates’ past decisions were the hot topics of the night.

The candidates each began by addressing his feelings about the future of the Northern Kentucky region, relating them to the regional planning initiative Vision 2015.

“Our collective goal should be to make Northern Kentucky the best place to live and work in the United States,” said Republican candidate Davis.

Democratic candidate Lucas said, “The university is in the very center of all the good things happening in this area.”

Northern Kentucky’s advancement was almost the only thing the candidates agreed on.

Calling for major changes in Washington, D.C., Lucas said the country is headed in the wrong direction. “We truly have a do-nothing congress,” and his opponent is part of the problem, Lucas said.

Davis acknowledged that Congress is facing challenges currently, but said now is not the time to hand it over to the Democrats.

The majority of debate consisted of the candidates criticizing each other’s reputations, recalling alleged mistakes each had made in the past. Davis brought up Lucas’s failure to pass any bills while he was previously in Congress, as well as supposed scandals involving his financial supporters. Lucas brought up information about Davis’s past, accusing him of being too partisan, voting for bills from republicans 96 percent of the time and calling his anti-Lucas advertisements acts of desperation to win.

When asked by a reporter during a discussion about the war how many have soldiers died in Iraq during October, Davis replied that he thinks the total is 17. The reporter pointed out to the current congressman that as of that day, the total number of U.S. soldiers killed in action this month is 71.