NewsChannel 5.com - Nashville, Tennessee - Vandy Students Watch Highly Anticipated Veep Debate

Vandy Students Watch Highly Anticipated Veep Debate

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - More than 100 students at Vanderbilt University spent their Thursday night watching the vice presidential candidates debate.

They watched the faceoff between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and U.S. Joe Biden on the big screen at the Sarratt Cinema.  They paid close attention to their statements to see if the debate lived up to the hype.

"I just really hope that the vice presidential candidates answer the questions they're given and really approach the issues, really attack the issues more so than I think we saw in the first presidential debate," said Andrea Clabough, another student. "I really thought there was a lot of dodging on the issues for both candidates."

Cameron Dastrick, president of a nonpartisan voter registration organization at Vanderbilt, said she thought the debate went really well.

Referring to missteps during the campaign, she said that Biden and Palin had to stay "away from controversial issues that have been brought up in the past. And the fact that they have had missteps throughout the campaign, they had to be very careful about what they said."

"I thought they did a great job in addressing some topics that haven't been discussed in the past. Education, specifically, was brought up and you know, the fact that Palin's kids are in the public school system, which a lot of people didn't know. Biden's wife has taught in the school system for so long," she said. "And just how much they put into the public school system and the fact that they really do it is a big issue. Even though we're in this recession and the economy is so bad right now, it's something that is of such importance to them."

She said both vice presidential candidates played to their strengths and neither one of them "in my opinion said anything appalling or made a big misstep."

"So generally, I thought it was a great debate and that people that went in curious to know how they feel on some topics definitely got their questions answered," she said.

At nearby Belmont University, last-minute preparations continue for the second presidential debate. On Tuesday, U.S. Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama will debate in a town hall format moderated by Tom Brokaw.