Former President George H.W. Bush will visit Penn State today as part of a campaign rally scheduled for 11 a.m. in HUB Alumni Hall.

The former president will be acting as a keynote speaker in the campaign rally, which will admit ticket holders starting at 9 a.m.

The doors for the rally will close at 10 a.m.

The tickets for the event are now sold out.

They were made available yesterday to the general public.

"Tickets were completely distributed by 1 p.m. [yesterday], so they went pretty quickly," said Charles Gable, the faculty adviser for the College Republicans.

"There are no more tickets available," he added.

Gable said the purpose of the rally is to energize sympathetic voters.

"It's all about energizing the Republican voter base to turn out for President George W. Bush on Nov. 2," he said.

Gable said state Rep. Lynn Herman, R-Centre, will also be speaking at the rally.

"[It includes] numerous VIP speakers, to include former President Bush as well as local Republican candidates," he said.

College Democrats President Megan Green said members of the organization will be outside the HUB-Robeson Center during the rally.

"We don't want to do anything disrespectful, but we'll be voicing our opinions," she said.

Green said she instructed the members of her group to stay out of the HUB.

"I've instructed people not to go in or be loud or get into heated arguments; it's important to be respectful," she said.

Susan Whitson, spokeswoman for the Bush/Cheney campaign, said George W. Bush's daughters will also be making an appearance during the rally.

"Barbara and Jenna will be attending the event [today] with their grandfather; they will be introducing him," she said.

Gable said Centre County is an important area for the upcoming campaign.

"Centre County has been on top of the priority list for many months now," he said.

Green said she was surprised there have not been more speakers supporting George W. Bush before now.

"I'm just surprised it's taken them so long. We've had four speakers from the Kerry campaign. It's overdue on their part," she said.