ome came clad in their best suits; others showed up in beach attire.
But what really separated this small group of presidential debate ticketholders from the swarm of pols, pundits, and plutocrats who descended on the University of Massachusetts at Boston last night was that they didn't get their tickets through political connections or by donating money. They scored the hottest ticket in town last night through luck.
After a long-awaited lottery early yesterday afternoon, UMass-Boston officials pulled out 49 names from a box containing thousands of cards submitted in the past two weeks by students hoping to win a seat at the debate.
While some students were miffed the university couldn't provide more tickets in a hall that can hold 1,200 seats, those who picked up their shiny red-and-white tickets last night were elated.
''How many people get the opportunity to see a presidential debate in their lifetime?'' said Stephanie Wood, 27, a graduate student studying biology. ''This is a chance to be part of history.''
The short notice - some students didn't get a call that they won a ticket until 4 p.m. - forced some to leave jobs earlier, change plans, and rush over in the clothes they were wearing.
Paul Burke, who had been gardening when he got the call, dropped his tools and came to the Clark Athletic Center in sandals, khaki shorts, and an orange baseball cap.
''I never thought I had a chance,'' said Burke, 57, a senior majoring in human services.
The select group of the campus's 13,000 mainly working-class commuter students received their tickets from UMass officials outside the Bayside Expo Center. From there, they took a topsy-turvy bus ride through a mounting throng of protesters and riot police.
With a mix of fear and amusement they watched young people dressed as Buddhist monks, who chanted against Al Gore's fund-raising, and hundreds representing local unions who blasted George W. Bush.
Explaining why so few students were admitted into the debate, UMass-Boston chancellor Sherry Penney said the university and the John F. Kennedy Library, the debate's co-hosts, received only a third of the available tickets.
The other two-thirds were divided between the Democratic and Republican parties. Of those tickets the hosts received, most were given to corporate sponsors, which included the Globe, the Boston Herald, Fleet Bank and others, which contributed the $2 million required to air the debate.
''Naturally, in a perfect world, we would have liked to have more students attend the debate,'' Penney said. ''Given the circumstances, this was the best we could do.''
