Chants of "four more years" and "six more weeks" rang out both supporting and protesting Teresa Heinz Kerry's campaign stop at Penn State last night.

The Kerry campaign was surprised and impressed by the estimated 4,000 people that turned out last night, said spokesman Mark Nevins.

"We were just really overwhelmed by the amount of support Penn State showed Mrs. Heinz Kerry tonight," he said.

At one point during her speech, Heinz Kerry said she received word from an aide that 4,000 people were outside showing support for her and Sen. John Kerry.

About 40 pro-Bush protesters began gathering outside Schwab Auditorium at about 6 p.m. and remained vocal for the next three hours. Many of the protesters were from Penn State's Young Americans for Freedom and College Republicans.

Rich Pastena, former College Republicans chair, said that the organization wanted to have a voice throughout the evening.

"As soon as we found out that Mrs. Heinz Kerry was coming here, we decided we wanted to be vocal," he said. "It shows there is a lot of support for Bush on this campus."

Pastena said he hoped to show the student body that there is a large conservative faction on campus.

Throughout the evening, some Bush supporters held signs saying, "Do you want some ketchup with those lies?" and "You can't be both Catholic and pro-choice."

Various cheers, including "four more years," also erupted from the crowd.

"To be honest, I didn't even really see them besides before the speech began," Alex Smith, vice president of College Democrats, said. "As far as inside the building, not much went on; we all just listened to a great speaker."

Smith said the support for Heinz Kerry was overwhelming.

"It just shows how much enthusiasm there is for this campaign on this campus," he said.

The enthusiasm of the demonstrators was fueled by a wide variety of issues.

"I support Bush because I feel that he's the best person to fight the war on terrorism," College Republicans member Charles Buchanan said. "I worry that things wouldn't be as safe as far as terrorism [if Kerry were elected]."

Many of those who did not get to see the speech waited outside the auditorium until Heinz Kerry came out to greet the crowd.

Keri-Ann Tavares (senior-African and African American Studies) said she wanted to see Heinz Kerry speak but did not arrive in time to beat the crowd.

"I'm really excited that she came out to speak," she said. "This election is going to affect [young adults] more than anyone else."

At one point in the evening, the demonstrators outside the building collectively joined in a bipartisan chant of "We are ... Penn State." But afterward the crowd quickly divided into partisan chants.

Penn State University police officer Frank Ball said the demonstrators were peaceful for the most part.

"I did speak to an individual who burned a [Bush] sign," he said. "Other than that we didn't have any other problems."

Cpl. Tom Dann of the State College Police Department said their force was called in to assist University Police at about 7 p.m. Originally, the department was not scheduled to supervise the event.

Only about half of those in attendance for the speech were of the general public and not affiliated with either Centre County Democrats or College Democrats.

"It should have been organized a lot better," Sophie Hiss (sophomore-division of undergraduate studies) said. "I wouldn't blame Penn State though."

Hiss said she arrived at about 6:30 and already about 1,000 people were ahead of her in line.

Kristen Hychka (graduate-geography) said she was disappointed she was not able to listen to Heinz Kerry's speech, but was impressed by the turnout.

"Actually I'm more happy that there are so many people here," she said.