For some students, tonight's presidential debate will not deter them from partaking in their usual Friday night activities.

Tonight's second presidential debate at 9 at Washington University in St. Louis will provide students the chance to combine politics and fun in a new forum: the debate drinking game.

The game began during the first presidential debate at the University of Miami last Thursday.

"It was Thursday, and we were going out to the bars anyway, and we wanted to watch the debate," said Lauren Sweeney (senior-broadcast journalism), who attended a gathering her friend was hosting.

Sweeney will be hosting a similar event during tonight's debate.

Participants decided to write down catch phrases that they believed the candidates would use, and then drink whenever these phrases were spoken by the candidates.

For example, each time Sen. John Kerry said "Teresa" or "stronger America," or President George W. Bush cited Kerry for "flip-flopping" or mispronounced a word, the party-goers drank.

"[Flip-flopping] was basically [Bush's] argument the whole time," Sweeney said. "So we didn't do anything during his part but drink."

The debate drinking game affords students interested in politics the opportunity to have a little fun while educating themselves about the candidates.

"You really get an idea of who's speaking more off-the-cuff and who's using prepared lines. You get a feel for who's more spontaneous," said Matt Ford (senior-journalism), who hosted the party.

Ford said he doesn't think this kind of activity mocks the debate. However, not everyone is as enthusiastic about this kind of approach to the debate.

"I would prefer that people were actually paying attention to what's going on in the debate. If you're getting increasingly intoxicated, you're not going to know what's going on," said Megan Green, president of the College Democrats.

She said students could have a couple of drinks, but if the point of the gathering is to get drunk, some points of the debate may be overlooked. Sweeney said, however, that trying to hear certain phrases made her and her friends pay closer attention.

"It caused us to really listen to what they were saying," she said.

Shauna Moser (sophomore-political science and journalism), a member of the College Republicans, said she thinks the game does not pose cause for alarm, unless it influences the undecided vote.

"It would really upset me to know that there were undecided voters doing this and drinking their way through it," she said.

Collegian staff writers Leann Frola and Hannah Aboul-Hosn contributed to this report.