Debate Set for Oxford Campus

I think this is great news for the Ole Miss community. I am glad the administration made the commitment to host this event. Yes it will cost the University several million dollars to host this event, but I think it will be well worth every dollar spent. The economic impact it will have on the area will be large also. As several thousand jouranlist and support staff will be in town for the event. This is the first time an event of this nature has been held in Mississippi.

(Clarion Ledger)The University of Mississippi will host the first 2008 presidential debate Sept. 26 at its Oxford campus. Ole Miss was selected from 19 other potential sites — 14 of which were other colleges or universities — by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The event will be held in the 1,200-seat Gertrude Ford Performing Arts Center on the university’s Oxford campus. The city’s 700 or so hotel rooms are inadequate to serve more than 4,000 visitors expected, so they will be shuttled to hotels in Tupelo, Batesville, Memphis, Grenada and other neighboring north Mississippi cities. There will be three presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate next year. The other two presidential debates will be held on Oct. 7 at Belmont University in Nashville and on Oct. 15 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.The vice-presidential debate will be held Oct. 2 at Washington University in St. Louis.