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Sights and sounds from Hofstra

9:25 PM EDT, October 15, 2008

8:37 p.m.

WAITING FOR OBAMA

The gaggle of antiwar protesters outside Hofstra began waiting for Obama to make an appearance before the debate.

A rumor circulated that a motorcade including Obama would pass through Hempstead Turnpike before the debate, witnesses said. By 8:30 p.m., it hadn't happened, but onlookers began chanting "Obama!" and unfurled a 10-by-10 foot banner of the candidate's face.

Some Obama supporters got into a shouting match with a man who was holding a sign that said "Obama raises the dead to vote 4 him." The man, who was not identified, accused Obama of getting votes from dead people who were still on the voter rolls.

--Patrick Whittle

8:18 p.m.

MCCAIN SUPPORTERS LONELY AND PROUD

Being a supporter of John McCain on the Hofstra campus sometimes feels like walking into Yankee Stadium wearing a Red Sox cap.

So says Christopher D'Amato, a senior drama student from New Haven, Conn. who was toting a big McCain placard thru the studnt union.

"People take it personally," he said.

D'Amato backed Michael Huckabee in the primary but likes McCain's belief in less regulation and smaller government. But defending that view in class sometimes feels "masochistic," he concedes. People are quick to suspect him of racism or assume he does not support gay rights (he'd leave that to the states and the churches, he said).

He gets through it by reminding himself, "I know it's the part of the world that I'm in."

Wednesday was "not too bad," though, even though he was as outnumbered as ever. "There's a nice spirit in the air. Nobody's getting angry."

--Elizabeth Moore

7:51

NO ARRESTS, ONE INJURY

At least one antiwar protester was injured in a brief scrum with mounted police outside the Hofstra University gates.

A line of mounted police pushed a crowd of about 200 protestors away from the university gate. The protestors wanted the police to admit antiwar veterans group to the debate.

One protester fell to the ground in the commotion and appeared to be stepped on by a police horse. Police declined to comment on the situation.