St. Thomas students watching Wednesday’s debate between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney mirrored national reaction to the contest, with many saying that they thought the former Massachusetts governor was more prepared, although the president had his supporters, too.

The event in Denver was the first of two debates scheduled between the two men running for President. The vice presidential candidates, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan, will debate next week in Kentucky.

Freshman Travis Skalicky thought Romney presented himself well.

“Romney came out pretty strong and stated all the facts. I thought he had a good plan down,” Skalicky said.

Other students agreed that Romney performed better than Obama, but others felt Romney was too forceful.

“I don’t think anyone won,” sophomore Shenique Emelife said. “A lot of people are saying Romney won, but I don’t see how you can win a debate by just being aggressive and looking up.”

Other students agreed that Obama, who some thought struggled with presentation, backed up his statements with more facts.

“Romney had some bold statements but I felt like he didn’t specify a specific plan, whereas Obama wasn’t going for bold statements,” junior Matt Koehler said.

Most students agreed that moderator Jim Lehrer struggled to maintain control of the debate. Both Obama and Romney spoke past their allotted time and cut off Lehrer.

“I felt bad for Jim (Lehrer),” sophomore Katie Berglove said. “They were just being really aggressive and talking over him. It’s kind of rude in my opinion.”

“The mediator is supposed to have control … and you are supposed to move seamlessly from one topic to another but they both kept backtracking to points they wanted to make about the topics,” sophomore Trevor Walstorm said.

Political science professor Steven Hatting agreed that the debate was not as well organized as it could have been.

“Governing should have come first and once that was fleshed out by the candidate, then I think moving into the more specific areas of domestic policy with that earlier framework already established would have made a lot more sense,” Hatting said.

Hatting also acknowledged that Romney appeared more prepared, but he didn’t see this debate as a devastating blow to Obama.

“I think the President has an issue that he’s going to have to attend to,” Hatting said. “It may not be [a game changer] if [Obama] recovers and finds a little more intensity and a little more energy than he did last night.”

The next presidential debate will be in a town hall format on Tuesday, Oct.16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

Meg Thompson can be reached at thom0130@stthomas.edu.