Last year, about 60 students gathered in the HUB-Robeson Center to watch President Bush's State of the Union address. Last night, about eight students remained for the entire speech. Several others trickled in, lingered for a few minutes and left.

Although the turnout was lower than it was last year, Laura Litterio (sophomore-photography) said she thinks students should be well informed about America's political situation.

"It's important because there's another election in two years," she said. "Hopefully, we'll all be voting."

Daniel Michelson-Horowitz (senior-biochemistry) said he felt skeptical about many of the president's policies.

"I've seen clips of previous State of the Union addresses and I'm hearing many of the same phrases," he said. "I wanted specifics and all I'm getting is abstractions."

Kevin Fyock (junior-health policy and administration) said he was interested in what he heard about healthcare reforms.

The president promised to care for the elderly, disabled and poor children but said private health insurance was best for all other Americans.

"It's just another expenditure," Fyock said. "More problems arise when you try to reform healthcare. I'm interested to see how it plays out in the future."

Dianne Gregg, Centre County Democrats chairwoman, said she is not sure the speech will make a great deal of difference.

"I think it sounds as though Bush is at last proposing to govern as the compassionate conservative he first told us he was when he first ran for office," she said. "We'll have to wait to see how he follows up on this speech."

Todd Taylor, president of the College Republicans, said Bush's speech hit the key points it needed to.

"I thought it was a good speech," Taylor said. "He focused on what he needed to -- Iraq, the economy and immigration reform."

The hot-button issue of the war in Iraq prompted Bush to reaffirm his decision to send an additional 20,000 troops overseas, a move Taylor said may not be enough.

"It's a step in the right direction, but there needs to be more," Taylor said. "I agree with Sen. John McCaine to send 50,000 troops in order to show a real commitment."

College Democrats spokesman Eliot Schmidt said the war in Iraq has taken attention away from the war on terror, and the recent increase in violence is not a promising sign.

Schmidt also criticized Bush's call for the U.S. to end its oil dependency by cutting gasoline usage by 20 percent by 2017, saying the president has repackaged the same issues he always brings up.

"Sen. Jim Webb mentioned this is the seventh time the president has mentioned energy reform, but there has been no movement," he said. "The president didn't mention anything new."

An issue both Taylor and Schmidt favored was one that Bush failed to mention -- a bill designed to reduce student loan interest rates from 6.8 to 3.4 percent over a five-year period.

"It's a step in the right direction," Schmidt said. "Anything Congress can do to make college more affordable is a step in the right direction."