The candidates for the first congressional district of Minnesota faced off on the MSU campus tonight.  Democratic Representative Tim Walz and his Republican challenger Brian Davis spoke to voters tonight.

It was absolutely packed in the ballroom at the Centennial Student Union tonight.  With Joe Spear of the Mankato Free Press and Jim Ragsdale of the St. Paul Pioneer Press moderating, the two candidates dived right into the dominant issue in this year's politics; the economy.  Tim Walz says, "Make no mistake about it. This economy did not get into this position like gravity; it's not just the law of things. These things were put in place. Bad trade policies. We just passed a trade deal with Peru, where the President of Peru said, 'This is wonderful, send your factories here. We will build things and sell it back to you.' That doesn't create jobs."

Brian Davis says, "I think Congress needs to correct the underlying problem that required the bailout - to go after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The subprime mortgage problem, that has been the root of the problem. A lot of stocks have been inflated and a lot of houses have been inflated in price. So we need to restore that consumer confidence by Congress doing the right job."

Davis and Walz ran through a multitude of issues, ranging financial aid for college, healthcare, and No Child Left Behind, but the audience was treated to some fireworks when Davis brought up a recent ad from the Walz campaign.  Brian Davis says, "One thing that I'm very discouraged about in this campaign is that you do have an ad out that says I want to cut Social Security benefits. That's just not true. I haven't said that in public. I have said that I want to privatize, but it's optional, partial, for younger workers. But I've never said that we need to cut benefits for Social Security."  Walz says, "The ad is very clear. It states that you want to privatize Social Security. That' not disputable because you just confirmed it. The issue is the economics that somehow trying to say that stock market, when it went down 2400 points last week, if there was a significant amount diverted into the private sector that that would not draw down on the current trust fund that is being used to pay out to current workers. That's basic economics."

The is the last of three debates for the two candidates, and the people of Southern Minnesota will decide who goes to Washington on Election Day.