The Bush twins toured Iowa Thursday, making stops at the three major public universities to talk to students about their father’s campaign.

Jenna and Barbara Bush stopped at Iowa State after visiting Northern Iowa and Iowa.

ISU student Republicans were excited to see the First Twins, who stopped by the Memorial Union to thank Republican volunteers for helping out in this year’s re-election campaign.

“Their first college visits were today in Iowa,” said Susan Whitson, the twins spokeswoman. “They want to be able to thank volunteers.”

They recently visited Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania, Whitson said, but did not go to any colleges there.

Jenna and Barbara joined the campaign after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin and Yale, respectively.

The ISU event was invite-only and closed to the press. Only Republican students who had signed up before Thursday and were on the list were able to get in with photo identification.

“I got a call from the Bush campaign a few days before, saying that we were going to have some special visitors come to Iowa State,” said Louis Kishkunas, president of the ISU College Republicans. “We started getting people mobilized and ready to go. I’m super-excited to have them here.”

The Bush twins thanked the Republican students for everything they’ve done so far in the campaign, said Don McDowell, ISU College Republicans member and freshman in political science.

The ISU College Republicans and Students for Bush co-sponsored the event and sent out detailed information to group members who wanted to attend.

“I thought it would be really cool to see the girls, and see what they have to say,” said Katie Hoffman, sophomore in pre-advertising. She said it was interesting because the twins didn’t work on the campaign during Bush’s first presidential run.

Jenna and Barbara talked about how there is still a lot of work left to do before the elections, McDowell said. Students still have to be motivated to go out and vote.

“It’s about youth getting involved in politics,” Kishkunas said.

They told the students some personal stories about their father as well, McDowell said.

“Basically, they were talking a lot about their dad on a more personal level. They were talking about how he is at home, how he is as their dad, a really down-to-earth type of person,” he said.

The twins told the group of students that they were a great crowd, like the crowds at UNI and Iowa, McDowell said.

“They’re pretty good speakers and they tried to connect with our age,” said Alexandria Davenport, a member of the ISU College Republicans and freshman in religious studies.

After visiting Ames, the twins flew back to Washington.

“I was really looking forward to it,” McDowell said. “I rearranged my day just to make plans for the Bush twins.”