From the very beginning, it was apparent that students, faculty, and staff gathered in Annenberg’s East Lobby to hear John McCain speak last night for very different reasons. Senior lecturer Richard Reeves said the Republican National Convention always provides “a chance to see how many white people there are in America.” Others came for the free pizza. Some came to sulk. And then there was a handful (ten, at most) who came to support McCain while he accepted the nomination for president.

Before McCain took the stage, the moderators of the event — University Professor Geoffrey Cowan, J-school Director Geneva Overholser, Journalism Professor Michael Parks, Senior Lecturer Richard Reeves, Law and Political Science Professor Kareem Crayton and Dan Schnur, Director of the Unruh Institute and former Communications Director for John McCain — debated the effectiveness of these four-day convention “infomercials.” They maintained that the Republicans, who are always much more scripted and better organized, usually throw the more effective pitch during this home-stretch.

While watching the bio vid crafted by the Republicans, Trishna Patel, a first-year grad student in the broadcast journalism program who describes her political standing as middle-right, commented, “whether you like McCain or not, you have to give the man credit for all that he’s overcome in this life.”

Trishna Patel

The bio vid did achieve a surprising sense of humor at times, which made McCain — a tried and true “mama’s boy” — seem a little less stodgy. However, when McCain took the stage and accepted the nomination . . . Annenberg was silent. This couldn’t contrast more with the hootin’ and hollerin’ that followed Obama’s acceptance last week.

There was random applause from some obscure source in the back of the room every now and then, but other than that, the crowd at Annenberg was less than enthusiastic last night. I didn’t spot a single cowboy hat in our audience, so perhaps that had something to do with it.

After the speech, Johnathan Shifflett, a second-year undergraduate in the music performance program, commented that McCain did a good job of covering more policy than Sarah Palin covered in her speech on Wednesday. Shifflett observed that “McCain integrated himself more by conveying the strength he got from his personal experiences.”

Taylor Friedman, a Democrat and second-year undergrad in the print journalism program, found it interesting how McCain “stressed all this experience he has, and yet picked Palin as vice-president.” Friedman went on to say that she didn’t understand how any of McCain’s promises — for improved education, more nuclear plants, and tax cuts — made him any sort of “maverick.”

Taylor Friedman and Johnathan Shifflett

At the end of the night, the reviews were mixed. Some thought McCain offered a number of contradictory promises. Others were impressed with the history and courage McCain would bring to the Oval Office.

Trishna Patel admitted that McCain gave the only speech that moved her all week. When asked if McCain persuaded her vote, Patel said, “I was totally into the speech, but I’m an issue voter, so I still don’t know who I’m going to vote for.”

For some, these convention “infomercials” create more confusion than certainty. To these folks, I say — good luck making sense of what the next three months are gonna throw at us.