During the afternoon's campaign visibility events, the Green took on the feel of a pep rally as supporters from each campaign cheered to win the attention of onlookers. The voices of supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama dominated the scene, though supporters from all campaigns sought to overpower each others' cheers.
The tent hosting the MSNBC television program "Hardball with Chris Matthews," which broadcast live from the Green beginning around 5 p.m., drew a large crowd throughout the afternoon. Matthews's program featured several guests during its broadcast -- including Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.
Earlier in the day, students were invited to meet with representatives from each campaign at a "Meet the Campaigns" event held in the Rockefeller Center.
Only New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Sen. Gravel of Alaska attended the event in person. Each other campaign sent senior staffers to talk to students. Candidate spouses Elizabeth Kucinich and Elizabeth Edwards were also in attendance.
Some student participants said the Richardson campaign seemed to steal the spotlight at the event, as many students were drawn to the Richardson room by the promise of hearing from Richardson directly.
"People started heading one way and someone would say, 'Hey, want to meet Bill Richardson?'" said Nathan Empsall '09, president of the student group supporting Delaware Sen. Joe Biden.
Nonetheless, both Empsall and Michael Brasher '10, president of Dartmouth for Hillary, said that they were pleased with the outcome of the event for their respective campaigns.
"The people who were there seemed interested," Empsall said. "It gave us hope."
As night fell over the Green and supporters donned light-up necklaces, many students filtered to Leede Arena for a student watch party.
The event, which was expected to draw as many as 2,000 participants, saw opening speeches from two Democratic candidates vying for New Hampshire's senate seat in 2008, Jay Buckey and former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, as well as from her husband, Bill Shaheen, who is a co-chair of the Clinton campaign.
The watch party was emceed by Michael Sloan-Rossiter '08 and Jen Schuster '09, and also included performances by Dartmouth a cappella groups the Rockapellas, the Cords and the Aires.
Students actively demonstrated their engagement throughout the night's debate at the watch party. In particular, the debate's last question -- which asked the candidates to state a preference for either the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees -- drew an especially enthusiastic response from the crowd. As early as 10:35 p.m., when the debate had entered its "lightning round," students began swarming toward the candidates' pen in the center of the arena in the hopes of catching a glimpse of candidates.
At the debates' conclusion, Biden, Gravel, Kucinich, Obama and Richardson stopped by the watch party to speak to students. In his comments, Obama emphasized his theme of uniting for change and encouraged students to get involved.
"Change does not happen from the top down," Obama said. "It happens from the bottom up."
Obama noted that he wished education had been more emphasized in the night's debate. He also asserted that though all eight Democratic candidates address many of the same issues, the 2008 election will be about more than political parties.
"It's not enough to change political parties in the White House," he said. "We've got to change politics."
Obama ended his comments in Leede on his traditional note of hopefulness.
"Let's go change the world," he said.
President of the College James Wright also spoke briefly at the watch party, thanking students for their help in organizing the debate and encouraging students to be actively involved in the political process.
"This debate and this campaign is about the lives that you're going to live," Wright said. "Please be involved."
Three of the campaigns held separate watch parties in Hanover. The Clinton watch party, held at Ramunto's, drew by far the largest crowd with several hundred attendees. Packed around three large televisions and clutching free slices of pizza and soda, the gathering cheered loudly after Clinton's comments.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd's campaign also threw a smaller and more subdued party at the Canoe Club, while Obama's campaign held one at Everything But Anchovies.
Mike Knapp '08, president of Dartmouth for Dodd, said he was pleased with the turnout for the Dodd event.
"I don't think Dartmouth students are ready to have the media pick their candidates for them," Knapp said.
Gary Coulomb and Chris Buchanan, local residents and members of the organization Firefighters for Dodd, echoed Knapp's message.
"It's not about being a rockstar," Coulomb said.
"We endorse people on the history," Buchanan said. "We're going to go out there and we're going to put our boots on the ground and we're going to fight for him."
In an interview with The Dartmouth, Dean said that he hoped students watching and participating in Wednesday's debate would identify with the Democratic presidential candidates, contrasting them with the Republican candidates whom he said "look like they're from the 1950s and talk like their from the 1850s."
Though he said he was glad to support the excitement and opportunity that the debate brought specifically to Dartmouth, speaking more generally Dean noted that hosting DNC debates on college campuses is advantageous for the Democratic party.
"It's not a coincidence that every one of these six debates is on a college campus," Dean said. "It's enormously valuable."
Dean noted that events like Wednesday's can serve to incite a pattern of voting among students.
"If you vote before you're 30, you're likely to vote for the rest of your life," he said.
Dean said that the most important task for students planning to cast a vote in Election 2008 was to get others to join them -- a charge he said was particularly helpful for the Democratic party, given that college voters are predisposed to vote Democratic.
"Find five people like you, and take them." Dean said. "Convince them that their vote has some connection to your lives."
According to a poll conducted by "Open Vote," a new polling website created by Colin Van Ostern Tu'09 and Jason Freedman Tu'08, Dartmouth students chose Clinton as the winner of the debate. The poll, which was open to all members of the Dartmouth community and had garnered over 400 responses as of 11:30 p.m., revealed that 34 percent of students chose Clinton, followed by Obama at 26 percent and Edwards at 15 percent. No other candidate garnered more than 16 percent of the votes.
Wednesday's public events also drew in supporters from far and wide -- including students from neighboring universities. The Richardson campaign, for example, brought in 50 students from Tufts University, where the governor is a graduate of both the undergraduate university and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
"It's been eye-opening," Tufts freshman Max Leiseroi said. "I've never been to an event like this before. It must be crazy for Dartmouth students."
Anais Carniciu '11 agreed.
"To see the Green that way was absolutely insane," she said.
