The first presidential debate between Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and President George W. Bush… The first presidential debate between Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and President George W. Bush took place this evening, and Pitt students gathered at select locations to watch.

While students from both the Republican and Democratic parties met at the William Pitt Union and the Litchfield Towers Lobby to watch the televised event, many gathered at the lounge on the 15th floor of Tower A, for a viewing and non-partisan debate organized by two Pitt students, freshmen Sarah Horowitz and Ashley Everett.

Lindsay Blazin was only one of many young Democrats in the lounge who felt that Kerry was the champion.

“I thought that John Kerry definitely won this debate,” she said. Blazin felt that Kerry used time to his advantage.

“George Bush tended to pause at the beginning of each question,” she said. “I feel like he wasted throughout the debate maybe five minutes of valuable discussion time.”

Geoff Detweiler, another dedicated Democrat and fan of John Kerry, believed Bush exhibited poor speaking skills while mentioning North Korea.

“I think the poor choice of words by Bush regarding how he plans to get into North Korea with an alliance yet he’s in Iraq without one … he contradicted himself,” he said.

Both Detweiler and Everett believed Bush exhibited the same inconsistency that he pointed out in his opponent.

“Bush didn’t really answer any of the questions, especially dealing with North Korea,” Everett said. “I feel like he always went back to Iraq with everything. He didn’t really address a lot of the problems that [moderator] Jim Lehrer and John Kerry directed his way. I think John Kerry did a good job of answering all of the questions.”

Detweiler also felt that Kerry did a better job than Bush at answering questions. “The points that Kerry made clearly … he definitely clarified his stance on Iraq despite Bush’s numerous attempts to label him as a flip-flopper many times during the debate,” he said. “And he definitely made it clear of what he wants to do to actually defeat the terrorists. Bush seems to not have a plan.”

Overall, the Democrats seemed pleased with Kerry’s performance. Everett was glad to hear Kerry mention his Web address because she felt he was reaching out to the American public in doing so.

Blazin was more excited that Kerry mentioned global peace.

“I think that Kerry hit on the respect that America needed to have in the world,” she said. “Right now, not only are we not loved as we should be in the global community, we’re hated.”