A crowd of students gathered in Hamilton Hall on Thursday night to watch and critique the first presidential debate of the election year.

The “debate watch” crowd of about 70 chuckled audibly throughout President Bush’s responses, especially drawing laughter when he mixed up Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

“I would suppose that people that watch have already made up their minds, and they’re tuning in to see their candidate win, or the other guy look ridiculous,” said Brandon Gray, junior in journalism and mass communication.

The presidential debate watch was organized by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics and affiliated with the Commission on Presidential Debates.

“We do this debate watch to try and encourage student participation in political life,” said Peggy Baum, program coordinator for the Catt Center. “We’ve been doing debate watches with the Catt Center since 1996, and in previous years, we’ve had pretty good groups from the two main parties and good representation from the Greens most times.”

Ruth Neil, junior in public service and administration in agriculture, did not have a favorite candidate before heading into Hamilton Hall to watch the debate.

“I’m watching it as much to make a decision about whom to vote for as to learn about the political process,” she said.

“I’ve never paid this much attention to any presidential debate before.”

Dirk Deam, lecturer of political science, said he believed the debate was not focused enough on the important political issues at hand.

“I’m afraid that these ‘debates’ have become more about entertainment and less about politics … what is important to the American people,” he said.

Dana Schumacher, political science academic adviser, echoed Deam’s concerns.

“[Though] I’ve been looking forward to this debate for the whole week, I feel a little cheated by the format,” she said.

Megan Krueger, freshman in liberal arts and sciences-open option, did not watch the debate.

“I’ve pretty much made up my mind about who to vote for, and I’m not sure anything will change my mind,” she said.

“People who are undecided probably won’t tune in because they’re already tuned out from politics.”

The debate watch crowd’s reactions were filmed by NBC cameramen.

“We’re going to send it out at 8:30, and it will air on MSNBC four times tomorrow,” said Jeff Sulzberger, one of the NBC crew members who helped film the reactions.

NBC filmed at Iowa State because a full-time NBC editor lives in Ames, Sulzberger said.