CEDAR FALLS - President George W. Bush's twin daughters talked about their parents' family values and urged college students to vote during a Thursday visit to the University of Northern Iowa.

The 45-minute visit was closed to the press and general public, but Jenna and Barbara Bush spoke to about 100 invited guests - including student campaign volunteers and supporters - inside Maucker Union.

"It was a message of 'Our dad's a regular guy; get out and vote for him,'" said Chris Huxsol, a sophomore from Charles City who attended the event. "I think the message struck well."

Media reporters and photographers were kept in a room next to the meeting hall where the fraternal twins rallied students.

Before meeting with the audience, the daughters greeted two university students in a staged photo opportunity in front of the media. As cameras flashed, the Bush twins exchanged small talk with Jodi Freed and Lisa Hamer, juniors who co-chair the university's Students for Bush effort.

"Stay in college," Jenna Bush told Freed and Hamer, adding that the real world is much different than college life.

Inside the meeting hall, students sat behind tables as the 22-year-old twins spoke from behind a podium for about five minutes each. The twins then shook hands and signed autographs.

The twins' visit appeared to create a little disruption outside the busy student union. Before the twins arrived, about 15 protesters lay on the ground around a fountain outside the building to protest the deaths of more than 1,000 American soldiers in Iraq since the conflict began. Protest organizers said they hoped the twins' visit would help them bring attention to their cause.

This is the twins' first solo campaign trip to Iowa, but the two attended a July 20 campaign stop in Cedar Rapids with their father, campaign officials said.

The twins also rallied student volunteers Thursday at events on Iowa State University's campus and at an Iowa City hotel.

"It shows college students can be Republicans even on a liberal college campus," Freed said of the Bush twins.

Adam Morris can be contacted at (319) 291-1461 or adam.morris@wcfcourier.com.