By all accounts, the Hofstra University campus is abuzz with excitement and nervous energy today as students and staff prepare for the final presidential debate between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. And according to student body president Peter DiSilvio, a double-major in political science and business management, the lottery to determine which students received tickets truly was a fair and unbiased endeavor—after all, even he didn’t get a ticket, and he helped bring the debate to Hofstra!

“This is my second term as [student body] president,” DiSilvio explained. “I was president during the ’06-’07 year. I helped mastermind and write the letter on behalf of the student body to the Election Commission.”

He added, “I’m not just proud of the event itself. I’m very proud of the students. You have like 120 student organizations, and I feel like almost every one of them is doing something related to the debate.”

It certainly seems that way. Hofstra’s campus is playing host not only to the debate but to a series of events called Educate ’08—basically a festival of lectures, performances, speeches and activities related to the 2008 presidential election. While Educate ’08 has been going on since September, today represents the most action-packed day of the festival. WNYC Radio’s award-winning Brian Lehrer Show did a morning broadcast from Dempster Hall on South Campus. The C-SPAN 2008 Campaign Bus will be on hand, as will the VOTE SMART Bus, the BioTour Bus (which runs on biodiesel), AT&T’s Rock the Vote Mobile Elections Bus, the Energy Action Coalition, and a youth-oriented outreach group from CNN.

DiSilvio himself was at school at 8 a.m. this morning to prep for a 9 a.m. CNN interview. He told me that he would be “at the beck and call of the university” for the rest of the day, serving as a spokesperson where necessary and helping to ensure that events ran smoothly.

DiSilvio, who leans toward McCain but considers himself an undecided voter, explained his personal political stance.

“I definitely see myself as a moderate because on a lot of social issues, I'm liberal. On a lot of financial issues, I'm conservative. To top it all off I'm an Italian in Nassau County in New York. So if I'm not a Republican, it's like I don't exist.”

I asked if he would reveal which candidate had his vote.

He replied, “I would love to, but it really comes down to tomorrow for me. I've been a fan of John McCain since day one. I love John McCain. You don't get a true American hero often.  I love his record on attacking pork barrel politics . . . then you have Barack Obama, who pretty much since South Carolina has just taken my breath away at every step. Up until then, I thought he was all hype. But listening to him speak…how wonderful a grasp of material he has, it's impossible for me to choose.”

DiSilvio continued, “I honestly believe that to win this election, John McCain needs to knock Obama out [at the debate]. Really verbally hit him hard. But if he couldn't do it at a town hall . . . town hall is what he's best at.  If he couldn't land a knockout punch there, I don't think he can do it [tonight].”

He concluded, “All Barack Obama has to do at this point is not ***** up.”