Residents of High Rise 5 and Jameson Hall were amongst the hundreds of students foregoing “Thirsty Thursday” festivities to watch the vice-presidential debate between Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska and Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) About 70 students gathered around the big screen television in the Jameson Hall sky lounge, ranging from the most obstinate politickers of the class of 2012 to those simply wishing to learn more about the presidential election.

The overall support of the room appeared to lean towards Biden. Palin’s appeals to “Joe Sixpack” and “Sally Soccer-Mom” were met with jeers and derision, while Biden captured a good amount of the High Rise residents’ respectful attention.

Last night’s vice-presidential debate between Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska covered significant ground as the candidates sparred over the financial crisis, Iraq and Afghanistan and energy policy. A group of around 100 people, filtering in and out of the Alice Cook House Dining Room, witnessed this debate.

Millions of people are projected to have watched the debate featuring the senator, said to be prone to making gaffes, and the newbie, said to have had trouble making a strong appearance on the interview circuit as of late.

The debate was moderated by Gwen Ifill of PBS’s Washington Week and The News Hour.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama has surged to a seven-point lead over John McCain one month before the presidential election, lifted by voters who think the Democrat is better suited to lead the nation through its sudden financial crisis, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that underscores the mounting concerns of some McCain backers.

Likely voters now back Obama 48-41 percent over McCain, a dramatic shift from an AP-GfK survey that gave the Republican a slight edge nearly three weeks ago, before Wall Street collapsed and sent ripples across worldwide markets. On top of that, unrelated surveys show Obama beating McCain in several battlegrounds, including Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Iowa — four states critical in the state-by-state fight for the presidency.

Prior to the Educate the Vote panel at Bailey Hall last Friday, members of the KyotoNOW! were on the Bailey Plaza campaigning for “Green Jobs Now” and calling for young voters to pledge to make energy policies a top priority in the upcoming election.

The purpose of Green Jobs Now is to get voters to discuss the potential to revitalize our economy with clean, safe and just green jobs that lift people out of poverty.

“We are trying to make clean energy and green jobs a part of the debate and a part of what people think about when they search for [their] candidate’s policies,” Kimberly Schroder ’09, tabling chair for the Power Vote campaign said, standing next to a poster, which read in bold green letters “GREEN JOBS … helping the environment and our economy.”

Analysis of the Presidential Drinking Game — er, Debate

I received an email the other day that stated the following:

“If you had purchased $1,000 of Delta Air Lines stock one year ago, you would have $49 left. With Fannie Mae, you would have $2.50 left of the original $1,000.

With AIG, you would have less than $15 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drunk all of the beer, then turned in the cans for aluminum recycling, you would have $214 cash.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — A pair of one-night polls gave Barack Obama a clear edge over John McCain in their first presidential debate.

Fifty-one percent said Obama, the Democrat, did a better job in Friday night's faceoff while 38 percent preferred the Republican McCain, according to a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. survey of adults.

Obama was widely considered more intelligent, likable and in touch with peoples' problems, and by modest margins was seen as the stronger leader and more sincere. Most said it was McCain who spent more time attacking his opponent.

About six in 10 said each did a better job than expected. Seven in 10 said each seemed capable of being president.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican John McCain agreed to attend the first presidential debate Friday night even though Congress doesn't have a bailout deal, reversing an earlier decision to delay the event until Washington had taken action to address the crisis.

With less than 10 hours until the debate was scheduled to start, the McCain campaign announced that the Arizona senator would travel to the University of Mississippi. The campaign said that afterward McCain would return to Washington to continue working on the financial crisis.