The Holliday Forum buzzed with political discussion before and during a presidential election town hall debate that saw a more enraged President Barack Obama putting Republican nominee Mitt Romney on the defensive Tuesday night.

Since the debate existed in a town hall format, audience members asked prepared questions.

Both Obama and Romney brought their points back to job creation and education.

Television pundits cited social media in saying Obama performed better in this debate, and was more mentally “there” than during the first presidential debate.

Obama said the nation needs to invest in education for the future of the economy, because if the education system does not train engineers, then companies won’t come here.

Romney referenced his success with the Massachusetts education system and his five-point plan, in which he plans to: make America energy independent, give every child a choice on where he or she attends school, forge new trade agreements, cut the nation’s deficit and support small business.

“Governor Romney doesn’t have a five-point plan, he has a one-point plan. He wants to make sure the folks at the top play by a different set of rules,” Obama said.

Romney countered this accusation by saying he would not increase taxes for the middle class.

Both candidates touched on energy policy, accusing each other of separate wrongs.

Obama claimed Romney flip-flopped about supporting coal—now campaigning for it—and Romney asked voters to look at Obama’s policies as opposed to his rhetoric.

On a question about lowering gas prices, Romney focused on the price of gas per gallon when Obama took office, $1.86 according to the debate, as opposed to what it is now, at more than $4, and blamed that on Obama.

Obama said the answer was that world demand for oil has risen, resulting in higher prices.

He then told Romney that maybe the Republican hopeful could lower the prices of gas by bringing our economy back to the brink of collapse, as it was when Obama took office.

“They need podiums to keep it civil,” said advertising senior Haley Shales.

Advertising senior Grant Casey disagreed.

“I enjoy town halls, because they’re more involved,” Casey said.

Young Americans for Liberty president Kyle Aycock took a more extreme view on the format, saying it wasn’t open enough.

“For a town hall debate, the format was very constrained,” Aycock said.

Political science professor James Garand said he thought the town hall format did not work well.

“Many of the questions were inappropriate for a debate of this magnitude,” Garand said.

He also said the debaters did not say much voters don’t already know about their policies.

“Obama was much more aggressive, of course, but I didn’t hear much that was new from either candidate,”he said.

Garand and students thought the debate was a draw.