Mr. Buckley begins cautiously: "I engage this subject thus formulated with some reluctance, because it is too easily misunderstood to be saying that political affiliations are the key to progress." However, he and his colleagues will "contend that the Republican Party is better oriented than the Democratic Party to do two things. The first and most important is to stay out of the way of upward-bound black Americans by minimizing the great burdens of regulations and taxation and military service. The second is to pull back from the catastrophic effects of the welfare state." Mr. Shrum takes off the gloves in his opening statement: "So now comes William F. Buckley Jr.-the fierce opponent of Brown v. Board of Education, the writer who penned jeremiads against the 1964 Civil Rights Act-to offer African Americans the tender mercies of the Republican Party. My reaction is, 'Beware of a reactionary bearing such gifts.'" The debaters sometimes talk past each other (CE: "Mr. Franks, are you saying that the War on Poverty was just a big mistake?" GF: "I am saying that the record is pretty clear as far as the separation of the family." CE: "So your position is;-" GF: "Trillions of dollars have been spent. I'm not saying-" CE: "The position of your party-" GF: "Can I answer your question?" CE: "No, I don't want you to filibuster"), but we cover a lot of ground, from law-school admissions in the University of California, to Aid to Families with Dependent Children, to the minimum wage, to Head Start.