The HUB lawn played host to C-SPAN Tuesday, as dozens of people circulated through the C-SPAN Campaign 2008 bus designed to educate students on the election process.

C-SPAN’s two 45-foot-long Campaign 2008 buses have multimedia demonstration centers and TV production units that can be used as studios during live programming. This allows students, authors, journalists and politicians to be interviewed aboard the buses anywhere in the country.

The bus is a public relations tool that raises the public’s awareness of politics, said Matthew McGuire, a volunteer with the campaign bus. “It started out as an education mission to demonstrate to educators how they could use C-SPAN in their American history [and] politics classes.”

Tamara Robinson, a marketing representative for C-SPAN touring with the bus, estimated that between 100 and 150 people stopped by.

“It was one of our largest turnouts,” she said.

In 2007, the first bus was launched as Campaign Tour Bus and toured the country informing people about elections.

“What better way to reach first time voters?” McGuire said. “High school students are aware of the issues but aren’t involved on the same level. … They don’t pick candidates.”

C-SPAN is a private, nonprofit company created in 1979 by the cable television industry. C-SPAN is funded by fees paid by cable and satellite companies that carry C-SPAN programming.

C-SPAN contacted the UW media office to let them know the bus was coming to Seattle, said Bryce McKibben, director the ASUW Office of Governmental Relations.

C-SPAN isn’t used by as many students as it should be, McKibben said. He added that this event made students more aware of C-SPAN.

C-SPAN is made up of three channels: C-SPAN gives live coverage of the House of Representatives, C-SPAN2 provides coverage of the Senate and C-SPAN3 covers other live events and runs historical programming.

“The event helped connect them (students) with the 2008 campaign coverage. … [It] was a good event,” McKibben said.

After touring the UW, the bus is scheduled to visit Green River Community College and Highline Community College. Meanwhile, another bus will be visiting schools in the Cleveland, Ohio area.

The bus has visited at least 77 high schools, 18 middle schools and 71 universities on its 2008 tour.

[Reach reporter Chris Paredes at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]