The USF theater building where the debate was held was surrounded by emergency service personnel and media vehicles.

I couldn't get into the debate in the theater building. I couldn't even get into the watch party in the tent. But as a photojournalist, I found the activity outside last night’s debate at the University of South Florida to be much more interesting than what was happening on the stage inside. I’ll let CL’s Mitch Perry tell the inside story. I suppose the protests outside are a preview of what’s to come this August when the Republican National Convention comes to town.

Security was tight and the people in charge did a good job of handling the crowd. I only saw a couple of “hands on” confrontations, one in which an occupy protester threw water on someone standing in line for the convention watch tent. The exchange, which followed some verbal jabs, was over in seconds. Overall the crowd was loud but orderly.
A spirited debate breaks out in line to get in; the man in orange is defending the GOP. There was a lot of verbal sparring, as many different interests came to the USF campus to take advantage of the national media coverage.