the debate comes to ASU!

well, today was definitely not an ordinary day at ASU. the third and final presidential debate was held on our campus. some classes were cancelled, others were moved, but most were just poorly attended. luckily, since I ride my bike, the road closures and parking lot closures did not affect my trip to school. but, basically, it was impossible to get to campus if you didn't walk or ride your bike there. after I finished teaching my classes, I wandered over to the student union and basked in the glory of the craziness and chaos that was unfolding there. there were lots of kerry supporters, lots of bush supporters (less than the kerry supporters, though), and also lots of people who were just using the excuse of the debate to be funny, annoying, or just weird.
the media were swarming everywhere; it seemed like cnn was campaigning for something, although I'm not sure what. we saw lots of great signs throughout the day. some of my favorites that I didn't get pictures of: "promote abstinence in 2004: no bush, no dick" and "save the environment: plant a bush back in texas". and then there was also the yelling match over at the bush booth. apparently some republicans are really angry about something. it was hilarious.
so, here's my photo journal of the day. enjoy the insanity.


some signs outside the MSNBC stage where they were broadcasting live (I saw chris matthews last night).


the lawn by the library where the CNN stage was set up.


some people had really really big signs, fighting for space behind wolf blitzer.


here's wolf blitzer reporting live from asu. does anyone else think it's weird that he has a teleprompter to do an interview? (one of my favorite protesters of the day was over here, he was saying, "dan rather should be fired. wolf blitzer is the best reporter ever." it sounded like he wanted to marry wolf or something. it was pretty funny).


this guy gets the award for most inventive way of getting your sign seen.


although it seemed like everyone had either a kerry or a bush sign, there were some people that didn't...


taping some show for MSNBC. they were interviewing some students on their views about the candidates. it wasn't that exciting.


the campus was overridden with media people. they were everywhere.


the award for cleverest sign.


the republicans were getting really angry with a couple people and started full out yelling at them. it was really amusing.
at one point, the bush people started yelling "four more years", so the kerry people responded with "three more weeks". that was nice, even if it will be longer than three weeks even if kerry wins.


traffic was an absolute mess. they had to close a bunch of streets. it was a big big mess. a lot of my students didn't even make it into class.


kerry's supporters were lined up all along the street leading up to the auditorium where the debate was held. we were waiting to wave to him as he drove by on his way there and wish him good luck.


i saw john kerry! in the window you can see him giving us the thumbs up sign. sorry i couldn't get a better shot.

so, after the kerry sighting, I had to go to class (that was moved off campus because the debate closed the building we usually have it in). luckily class ended early so I was able to watch at least the last half of the debate. I think it went pretty well. go kerry!