High-profile confrontation rivets St. Louis campus

Student focus rests primarily on GOP's Palin

Students at Washington University (above, below) demonstrated outside the site of the debate between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin. (Jeff Roberson/Associated Press)

ST. LOUIS - The presence of a vice-presidential debate on campus inserted the presidential campaign deep into Washington University's fall 2008 syllabi, from the women's studies class that has pondered the role of gender in the race, to the course in argumentation that regularly examines candidates' rhetoric.

On Wednesday, students in a Russian-civilization course watched a feature segment from CNN in which a reporter visited the isolated Alaskan island from which - as Governor Sarah Palin has said - it is possible to see Russian territory. Joe Biden's name has not been mentioned in the classroom.

"In terms of media coverage and what people are paying attention to, you can't make fun of him as much," said Elizabeth Kleinrock, an East Asian studies major taking the Russian class. "The stuff she says is so much more kind of ridiculous and quotable."

Palin backers were so desperate to shift that focus from her that they happily violated the ritual pre-debate practice of expectations-setting, in which campaigns dutifully emphasize their candidates' failings and their opponents' strengths.

McCain aides who had spent much of the last week exalting Biden as a debater of unrivaled skill yesterday released an online video compilation of his most volatile moments, including a clip from 1988 in which he told a voter, "I think I probably have a much higher I.Q. than you do."

Exhuming 20-year old video clips did little to undo impressions that the night had turned into a one-woman show. "Get it away from being an I.Q. test," said Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who advised Palin during her days of debate prep, as he walked through the site hours before the debate. "Tonight is not a college exam."

While Palin was in seclusion, many students used the time to study for the occasion, brushing up on her recent series of interviews with Katie Couric of CBS News and emerging as self-credentialed scholars of Palin evasions.

"I'll be looking at her arguments - if she has actual ideas or just words," said Ellen Drott, a freshman from Texas and an undecided first-time voter who said that she had been leaning towards McCain. "For vice president, I like Biden more than Palin. When it comes to president, I'm more for McCain."

Even those who acknowledged that they found themselves frequently at a loss for words offered little sympathy for the Republican vice presidential nominee.

"When you're a politician, things are different. It's less acceptable for someone not to know the answer to something," said Sherraine Griffin, a freshman from St. Louis.

In a cafe in the library, a group of students giggled while reading aloud from a satirical campus newspaper that described on its front page how the university had prepared for Palin's visit by turning its stadium into "world-class wildlife reserve stocked with native Alaskan species."

Next to them, Luna Koizumi, an 18-year old student from Tokyo, scoffed at the focus on Palin. She cannot vote in November but said she preferred Obama.

"It's all about her personality, but that's not what's going to fix America," said Koizumi, who noted with some satisfaction that she was not related to former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi. "A lot of the reason they elected him was because of his image as a handsome guy. Palin is very similar."

A young man was walking toward the group. Kleinrock said his name was Clelland Chatman, and she waved him over. "He's our most conservative friend," she said. "He wants to marry Sarah Palin. He literally wants to marry Sarah Palin."

Chatman, a senior from Arkansas, tried to explain the fascination with her. "Biden is a generic white male candidate whereas Palin's more interesting to people because she's unique," he said.

One of their friends was wearing a button supplied by the CNN Election Express bus that read "I'm Anti-" with "Katie Couric" scrawled beneath.

Will Stein, a political-science major, said that even though he had watched the interview series, he did not intend the button as a gesture of solidarity with Palin.

"I'm leaning towards Obama, but I think it's just I'm getting caught up in the hype," he said.