Photo by Jessica Stewart / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Aaron Catron, Josh Swindler, and Colin Hoffman, from left to right, demonstrate Thursday morning before a crowd of people enter the Looney Complex on the campus of Missouri Western State University to hear Sen. Joe Biden.

Joe Biden told a crowd estimated at more than 700 at Missouri Western State University Thursday that November’s election will be “the most important” they will have ever voted in.

There seemed to be some truth to that, given the nearly two hours that students, even Republican students, waited in line in the cold morning air, and then for another hour or more inside for Mr. Biden to take the podium.

But for Western freshman Andrew Gibson, it’s his first election. While some students (there were about three dozen total at the event) wore shirts emblazoned with Barack Obama’s image, the self-proclaimed “total Democrat” was wearing a black T-shirt with the visage of 1960s lead singer Jim Morrison from the “Doors.”

“This is definitely a cool thing,” he said near a pit of news cameras and dozens of security personnel waiting for the event to begin.

And though the atmosphere (standing ovations and vocal outbursts of support) was akin to a rock concert, some of the students weren’t as enthusiastic.

Jordon Ray, a junior at Western, made a list of Mr. Biden’s comments that he’ll “have to look up.” He attended the event with friends Megan Hamilton, a Republican sophomore at Western who thought the first half of Mr. Biden’s speech was an attack on McCain, and Lexi Moore, a Western sophomore and Democrat who found the speech inspirational.

“Your candidate completely bashed my candidate yesterday,” said Ms. Moore in a friendly but intense exchange in response to Ms. Hamilton’s criticism.

A small gathering of John McCain supporters made themselves visible (one fellow was wearing an Uncle Sam costume) with signs denouncing Mr. Obama or supporting McCain outside the M.O. Looney Complex where the event occurred. Colin Hoffman, president of Western’s College Republicans, said they tried to be respectful of the event and not provoke arguments.

“I think a lot of people are involved but not educated,” he said of college-aged Democrats following the campaigns. “Especially this year because they think Obama is the voice of our generation ... it’s easy to get drawn up into what’s trendy.”

Christina Williams, a sophomore at Western, was undecided until recently when she chose the Obama ticket. She felt Mr. Biden addressed the issues and was particularly drawn to his views on higher education.

“He was talking about how he was going to make it easy for us to afford (college),” she said. “That brought me even more to vote for (Obama).”

Jimmy Myers can be reached

at jimmym@npgco.com.