Dozens of students packed the small brick-walled African American Cultural Center Thursday night for the program “Who’s Your Pick?” The debate became so intense that moderator Chris Johnson, biological sciences junior, had to interject several times to keep the peace and the debates moving forward, as about fifty students discussed reasons for supporting particular presidential candidates.      Dr. Regina Lawrence, mass communication professor and Jas Sullivan, political science professor, led the group in discussions about race and gender in the upcoming elections.The speeches gave audience members the background information necessary for them to draw conclusions, prompting several questions.”The speakers told us about the candidates and the process without being biased towards either side,” said Caleb Winters, general education junior.Lawrence, who is currently writing a book about gender and media coverage in the primary elections, spoke about the media coverage of Sen. Hillary Clinton and Gov. Sarah Palin. Lawrence said she doesn’t think the media showed explicit sexism in the coverage of the primary or general election, but there is a subtle “gendering of the race.””The media operates on a horse-race formula for covering the election because that’s what they think we want,” Lawrence said in regard to questions about the constant polling on the major news networks.Sullivan addressed racial issues in politics past and present. Until Obama’s recent success, it has been very hard for an African American to get votes from white voters, Sullivan said.Sullivan said black candidates are often stereotyped, and this election is no different. “We Americans like a good game,” Sullivan said. “We love drama, that’s why we watch reality television.”Sullivan asked students to go out and get the information for themselves and not to just trust what other people say.”If you don’t go to the Web sites, listen to the debates, hear the speeches, you are just taking shortcuts.” Sullivan said.After Sullivan and Lawrence’s speeches, student representatives spoke on behalf both Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain.Chris Cummings, political science senior, spoke on behalf of the republicans, and Matthew Maddex, doctoral student spoke on behalf of the democrats.After they finished their speeches, the “real talk” portion of the program began. Students addressed their choice of panelist or representative with questions regarding everything from the Iraq War to “Saturday Night Live.”The questions and answers often became heated as students in attendance challenged both Cummings and Maddex.Maddex received several grunts of approval as he passionately outlined Obama’s platforms. “[Maddex’s] comments really caught my ear,” said Nick Davis, mass communication freshman.Cummings took a more reserved approach as he summarized McCain’s stances on the economy, college loans and foreign policy. ”I learned a lot, especially about the Iraq war,” said Shaina Huntsberry, mass communication freshman.—-Contact Jack LeBlanc at [email protected]