Students gather for presidential debate

By Sonya Smith
Daily Forty-Niner
Editor-in-Chief

Every seat was filled at 6 p.m. Thursday as the first 2004 Presidential Debate was the main attraction in the Games Area of the Student Union.

The crowd soon grew to over 100 viewers, and the hot commodity of the night, a chair to watch the debate from, almost caused a fight between two men.

Before the debate, four graduate students in the Speech, Language and Pathology department were able to watch the debate after their class was let out early for the debate. The four women sat closely discussing and anticipating what the debate would bring and how the rules might affect it.

"It doesn't even seem like it's a real debate," Eboli Diannini said in reaction to the various debate rules that were agreed to in a 32-page document. "The whole spirit of debate is gone."

Going into the debate, Cindy Ducar hoped that John Kerry would make a clear statement of his platform mainly for policy issues. Ducar said, however, that the debate would not shape how she will vote in the election.

"I'm already decided as one way," she said. "I know what to fill in when my absentee ballot comes."

Much of the university crowd also seemed decided during the debate, as laughs erupted at President George W. Bush's expense several times. As Moderator Jim Lehrer asked Kerry about what "colossal misjudgments" he thinks Bush has made, Kerry's response of "Well, where do you want me to begin?" earned the first smiles and laughs of the night in the Student Union.

Some of the people in the crowd also made remarks throughout the debate such as, "What is he saying?" and "He's like a deer in the headlights," in reference to Bush.

The active crowd even drew attention from a nearby worker at The Press Room. John Hernando, 19, was cleaning up after hours at the restaurant and saw the crowd watching the debate and headed over to watch some of it for himself.

"It's good to see that people are into it," Hernando said of the turnout. Into the debate himself, Hernando stopped mid-answer to say, "Aw, did you just hear that?"

Not all students left their gaming for the debate, 18-year-old Mark Mata was working on level four of "Soul Calibur" in the arcade next to the television area.

"Politics have never interested me," Mata said of why he was not watching the debate. The nursing major also said that he is not going to vote in the upcoming election, but might in the 2008 election.

After the election, the Speech, Language and Pathology graduate students were excited about the debate. Jennifer Cudd said that the debate had strongly reinforced her beliefs.

"I've never heard someone talk so much without saying anything," Cudd said of Bush in the debate. "I'm much more confident about my vote and I'm 100 percent sure now."

Looking into how or if the debate shaped the nation's votes, an AOL online poll showed that 53 percent of the 963,153 people that responded thought Kerry won the debate, and the other 47 percent felt that Bush had won.

For the same survey, 72 percent said the debate did not change the candidate they support, 18 percent said the debate changed their support to Kerry, and 10 percent said they now support Bush.

The next presidential debate will be held Friday, Oct. 8 at Washington State University, St. Louis, Miss. will be conducted as a "town hall" debate moderated by Charles Gibson and will not be specified by topic. The third presidential debate on "Economic and Domestic Policy" will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 13, at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., and will be moderated by Bob Schieffer. On Oct. 5, the vice-presidential debate to be held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, will be moderated by Gwen Ifill and will have no specified topic.