Like hall of famers throwing out the ceremonial first pitches on baseball's opening day, former presidential speechwriters for John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan staged a friendly debate in New York last night before a young, bipartisan crowd of about 800 assembled to watch the presidential State of the Union address. Ted Sorensen, Kennedy's former advisor, and Peggy Noonan, who scripted speeches for Reagan, helped launch the inaugural event for the New York chapter of Generation Engage, a nonpartisan network founded last year to draw young Americans into the political process.

For about an hour -- before George W. Bush's 51-minute address was projected onto a giant screen in downtown Manhattan's historic Marble Collegiate Church, Sorensen and Noonan reminisced, sparred politely, and answered questions from audience members. "What's the primary difference between Republicans and Democrats?" asked one. Noonan said Democrats were more likely to trust in the efficacy of the federal government, prompting Sorensen to reply: "Republicans care about property, Democrats about people."

In response to a later question, Sorensen criticized the president's "warrantless wiretapping" and joked that perhaps former FEMA chief and Bush buddy Michael Brown would get a seat of honor for the address. Noonan, for her part, mused that presidential speeches have become too reliant on focus groups and shallow applause lines. After the speech, Sorensen said he was surprised by how widely the president's remarks roamed in both style and content. "I understand eight different people wrote it," he told Time, "which seems to make sense now, because the speech had eight different tones and approaches."

Colby Hall, 25, said she attended the event because one of her goals this year is to become more politically active. A native of Haverford, Penn., Hall is working toward a graduate degree at Columbia University's Teachers College. She said that though she found Bush's speech rhetorically unimpressive, she was inspired by the thoughtful discussion beforehand. "As a teacher," she said "it's important for me to be civically engaged."

Throughout the evening, cheers, hisses, hoots and applause rippled through the audience. As host of the event, Rev. David Lewicki, the church's associate minister, conceded that the renowned chapel seemed a strange site for a political gathering "considering that, as a nation, we keep church and state apart." In contrast to that notion, Lewicki urged the assembled audience, "think of what binds us as more important than what divides us." He was followed onstage by Samara Barend, 28, a Generation Engage volunteer who moderated the speechwriters' discussion. "Politics and the state of our nation are worthy of our attention," Barend said in her remarks. "If American Idol interests us, why not this?"