Walt Handelsman

I spent the day cruising around Hofstra University talking to students to get a feel for what it's like for them to be a part of the next biggest story in politics...Wednesday's Presidential Debate!!!

There's an energy on campus. You can see it...You can feel it...You can smell it...Okay, maybe you can't smell it but you can feel it. The students I spoke with talked about heightened security, school pride, heightened security, lack of parking, heightened security and how nobody knows anybody who knows anybody who actually has a ticket to the debate. They were great kids and it made me wish I was hanging out back in college again...But without all the books and tests and pressure and stuff.

I'll be drawing a full page of sketches about my day at Hofstra that I'll post here, it will also run in Wednesday's Newsday. In the meantime, here's a look at some of the stuff I saw today.

The campus is plastered with banners about the big event.

A shot from the media grandstands where the media grandstanders will be grandstanding outside the debate hall.

A makeshift sign in a dorm window across from the student center declares support for Obama. Speled lik a cartunist wrot itt!

Inside the hall, I'm struck by how small the stage is. There's hardly enough room for the candidate's egos.

Event planner prepare to install the please-stop-talking-now stop light that all the candidates ignore.