While the major-party presidential candidates stumped in swing states this weekend, two top advisers to foes Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush were on campus to brag about each campaign’s stance on environmental issues.

Kathleen McGinty, a Gore aide, and Christopher DeMuth, a Bush adviser, took part in the only such debate during the 2000 presidential election. The event was part of the Society of Environmental Journalists’ 10th annual conference, held this weekend at the Kellogg Center.

Jim Detjen, who chairs the Knight Center for Journalism at MSU and is a past SEJ president, was key in bringing the debate to campus Saturday.

“There was a team that talked about how the conference should have some news come out of it,” Detjen said. “The presidential candidates would be of great issue, and they were timely. In Michigan the race is close, and the environment