As election day draws near, candidates are stretching themselves across their voting districts in a final attempt to reach out to voters.

Congressman Jim Ross Lightfoot, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, visited Ames Tuesday night, when he visited the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity.

Because of the fraternity’s agricultural base, Lightfoot addressed farming issues, including the Farm Bill and the Freedom to Farm act. Lightfoot specifically cited the differences between his views and that of his opponent, Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin.

Lightfoot said he opposes high inheritance taxes because they tend to force some farmers to sell their property in order to pay the inheritance taxes.

Keeping people on their farms and in their small businesses is important, Lightfoot said. He said it was especially important to the fraternity of agriculture majors because young farmers might have to sell the farms they inherit.

Pauley Bradley, a senior in agronomy, said Lightfoot addressed several issues that are important to him. “I thought he brought out some good differences between [him] and Sen. Harkin,” Bradley said.

In reference to farms, Bradley said he thinks inheritance taxes need to be lowered to make inheriting easier. Instead of selling farms to pay the inheritance tax, he said, “we need to keep family farms alive.”

The Iowa Senatorial race wasn’t the only focus of Lightfoot’s appearance. One fraternity member asked Lightfoot to “give a rundown” of the presidential campaign.

“I think the race is a lot closer than in the national media [polls],” Lightfoot said. Each campaign has its own way of calculating who is leading each race, he said. Also, because election day is not far away, many candidates are “cranking up” their campaigns.

In light of the presidential debate, Lightfoot said he thinks Bob Dole should address President Bill Clinton’s character. Although pollsters say character doesn’t count, Lightfoot said, he thinks it does.

Lightfoot said Dole should ask Clinton if he will pardon people who were convicted in connection with the Whitewater investigation. Overall, Lightfoot said he thinks Dole needs to get more excited.

Alpha Gamma Rho member Luke Berglund, a junior in pre-veterinary medicine, agreed. “[Lightfoot] kind of hit the nail on the head when he said Dole needed to lighten up,” Berglund said.

Lightfoot said he predicts the presidential race to be very tight between the two candidates, or for Clinton to win big. But some people aren’t focusing on the presidential race right now, he said.

Legislative races are very important and for many people, “you gotta get the World Series over first,” Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot urged the fraternity members to exercise their right to vote for the presidential, legislative and other candidates.