This election is in a dead heat.

This is the matching opinion of both Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for President George W. Bush, and Paul Begala, former White House Aide to President Bill Clinton.

“There is not a direct line between who wins a debate and who wins an election,” Fleischer said.

The two both gave speeches on their point of view of the first presidential debate and the upcoming election tonight at the John V. Roach Honors College Purple Politics event.

Fleischer focused his presentation on talking about numbers and how voting demographics affected the outcome of elections. He mentioned how independents had the highest change in voting behavior between 2008 and 2010 and that young voters weren’t sure if they could identify with Mitt Romney.   

Begala took a different approach with his speech. He spoke about how President Obama has a great chance to win this election and the American privilege to reach attainable goals.

Begala said this was the worst batch of Republican candidates that they have run against. He compared this election to ones in the past and pointed out that the Republican party has moved even further to the right. He said this is bad for both the country and for the Republican’s chance to win the election.

They both agreed the political system in this country does work, but disagreed on what was causing the polarizing issues in Washington D.C.

Fleischer said it’s a result of the current president’s lack of communication with the people of Washington where Begala said the opposite. Begala said the polarization is a result of politicians jumping on any issue that the president touches.