The William Pitt Union patio looked like it was host to its own political debate.

The first… The William Pitt Union patio looked like it was host to its own political debate.

The first presidential debate of the year was shown on a projector screen, hosted by the College Democrats, but when the College Republicans ran into some technical difficulty trying to show the debate at David Lawrence Hall, Bush supporters trotted across the street.

The small group that chose not to go home and watch the debate stood in the back of the crowd holding Bush/Cheney signs and applauding any moment that they thought President George W. Bush made Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry seem hypocritical.

Kerry spoke about supporting troops but, “he didn’t defend his position on not voting for the 87th bill; he didn’t vote for the support,” freshman Ryan Bowen said.

Though the students on the lawn were divided, the candidates on the screen agreed on certain things. They both acknowledged that our troops were doing a good job in Iraq, nuclear proliferation is the biggest threat, and that a free Iraq would make America safer, but Kerry made sure he started off by saying that he and President Bush “have a different set of convictions.”

“Truth is what good policy and leadership is,” Kerry said. He said his belief is that Bush has mislead the American public by bombarding them with false information about weapons of mass destruction and not trying his hardest to make war a last resort.

Quick to defend his position, Bush argued that “the right action was in Iraq,” and that he has consistently felt that way while his opponent’s position changed with the political climate. He said that Kerry voted to commit troops and then changed his mind.

“The only consistency in his policy is that he’s been inconsistent,” Bush said.

Even after the candidates finished their debate at around 10:30 p.m., and students began to slowly clear their seats on the lawn, their views hadn’t changed much.

“He didn’t say anything that shocked me,” said sophomore Chris Bosley, who had researched information about Bush and planned to vote for him.