<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Reactions to Tuesday night&amp;#x27;s second presidential debate are still coming in. Both candidates certainly showed up to fight, and reviews from all over the country describe close margins of victory for each candidate. Nate Silver of the New York Times&amp;#x27;s FiveThirtyEight blog, who looks at statistical data, said of the instant reactions he gathered, &amp;quot;Scientific polls conducted after Tuesday night&amp;amp;#8217;s presidential debate in New York give a modest edge to President Obama.&amp;quot; Regardless of who you thought won--and keep voting in our poll!--you have to read what those inside the room thought. One hundred lucky Hofstra students, out of the 6,500 that applied, were gifted golden tickets to watch the presidential debate--in person. (I die.) So, I asked four of the attendees their experiences at such a monumental event, their reactions when they found out they won tickets, and about Governor Romney&amp;amp;#8217;s binder comment, which turned the meme world upside down. Enjoy! Kerri is a junior Broadcast Journalism major. Tell us about when you found out you won a golden ticket to the debate. My ticket was actually such a surprise. I worked all weekend as a student volunteer helping a Sri Lankan news team with their debate coverage, so I didn&amp;#x27;t even get a chance to enter the lottery for tickets. On Tuesday, I worked all day in the Media Filing Center where journalists and news teams from all over were setting up for broadcasts and coverage. At 6:15 P.M., our supervisors called all of the volunteers of the Media Filing Center together to receive our assignments; little did we know, our assignments for the night was to be seat fillers in the debate hall. I was beyond excited and I was shaking from just knowing I was going to get to witness everything live. How did you feel in the Debate Hall? Any tense energy? The seat I got was rather high up, so it was difficult to see facial expressions, but because I was actually in the hall, I got to see the candidates in full view rather than via a camera lens. There was a lot of tense energy around me. The man I was sitting next to was clearly a Democrat as every time Romney said something less-than-perfect, he would snicker. It was fantastic to see and hear the reactions of so many people in unison. Was there an issue you were happy to see addressed? The fact that the first question was asked by someone who was my own age made me really happy. It showed to me that people my age aren&amp;#x27;t being left behind in favor of the older generations. The question was about paying for college and getting a job after college, something that I am concerned about myself. What was your reaction to Romney&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;binder&amp;quot; comment? I thought it was extremely disrespectful to women everywhere. The way it came across to me was that he wanted to hire under qualified women to prove that he wasn&amp;#x27;t sexist which just proved that he is, in fact, sexist. Romney has never been an advocate for women&amp;#x27;s rights and his &amp;quot;binder of women&amp;quot; won&amp;#x27;t do anything to undo that. Most memorable part of your experience? The experience as a whole was just so incredible that I can&amp;#x27;t even believe it happened. The most memorable part was probably the minute and a half after 9 P.M. when all of the new stations in the debate hall went live and gave their introductions to the debate. At that moment, I knew that I wanted to spend my life doing media coverage just like those news anchors were doing right in front of me. Samantha, a senior, is a Music Education major. How did you feel when you won the ticket to Tuesday&amp;#x27;s debate? It just blew my mind because I never seriously thought that, of all people, I was going to get a ticket to the debate. I was out with my mom at a marching band competition supporting my alma mater Sachem, and was checking Facebook, and saw that people weren&amp;amp;#8217;t getting tickets, so I figured &amp;amp;#8220;why not? Let me check the email anyway,&amp;amp;#8221; and then when it came up, there was an email saying, &amp;amp;#8220;YOU ARE GOING TO THE DEBATE&amp;amp;#133;&amp;amp;#8221; My jaw dropped and I wanted to scream! What did you feel was a major difference in actually being present in the hall rather than watching it live on TV? You just can&amp;amp;#8217;t voice your own opinion during the debate, compared to seeing it on TV. There were certain protocols about not talking or making any sound or movement during the debate, so it was hard to be yourself in a setting so tense as that, where if you were at the [viewing parties on campus] or at home, you could have been more vocal about your thoughts and opinions. Was there an issue you were happy to see addressed? Absolutely. I love that they talked about the economy and what they want to do to improve the job market in the next four years, because when I graduate Hofstra, I would love to know that I could find a job! I also enjoyed that they spoke about ways to lower gas prices, because honestly, I am not a fan of paying $4.09 a gallon. Is there a woman&amp;#x27;s issue you&amp;#x27;re particularly passionate about? I am really passionate about being pro-life. Most memorable part of your experience? The most memorable part of this whole experience was just being there live, and seeing it first hand. Now who else would get to say that they were in the same room as the President of the United States? Lena is a junior Labor Studies major. Where were you when you found out you won a golden ticket? When I realized that I was going to the debate, I froze and tried my best to take it in. I was in my room and I had just woken up for crew practice. Once it sank in, I screamed out loud at 4:30 A.M How was it different for you watching the debate in person, as opposed to watching it live on TV? There was a very big difference being in the hall because you could feel the emotions and the energy from the candidates, but as well as those from everyone around you. What made it even better for me was that the candidates were able to grasp my attention a lot better since I was right there. Was there an issue you were happy to see addressed? I was very happy to see early on that the environment was addressed. I feel like so far both candidates viewed it as a touchy subject, but I think of it as the most important one. What was your reaction to Romney&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;binder&amp;quot; comment? I thought of it as a reference to find qualified women for the positions he was looking to fill. Nothing more than that. Alyssa is a sophomore Public Relations and Global Studies double major. How did you find out you won a ticket to the debate? I found out I won the ticket at around 7:30 P.M. At the time, I was volunteering in the Ticket Distribution Center in Nassau Coliseum as a volunteer, and we were getting ready to leave because our job was done. The person in charge of the volunteers at my location came up to us and said, &amp;quot;Guess what? We are going to the debate. There are extra tickets that students did not pick up.&amp;quot; From there, we quickly packed up, went through security and got on the last shuttle [school] bus to the Debate Hall. We were all shocked and were quickly texting and calling our families and friends. As volunteers, we were not allowed to enter the lottery, so it was a wonderful surprise. Were you allowed to live tweet the debate? We were not allowed to have our cell phones out or on. If we were caught they said we would be escorted out of the debate hall and I was not taking the chance. I took pictures right when I got there and at the end, and posted on Facebook on the way over. What is your response to Romney&amp;#x27;s binder comment? [It] was not as powerful as someone watching over the TV. I thought Romney tried to generalize women and not relate to them personally, but still say that he just &amp;amp;#8220;knows women.&amp;amp;#8221; It was definitely an interesting comment, but in the moment I was kind of trying to figure out what point he was trying to make. Overall, I think Romney did a respectable job. So. Cool. Roll Pride! What would you have asked the candidates if you were handed the mic last night? Want more Debate 2012 coverage? Check these posts out... *"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/inspired/blogs/the-conversation/2012/10/media-outlets-tweeters-and-fac>