Presidential debate sites announced
A group of retired seniors gathered at the Brighton Gardens Assisted Living Residences in Bethesda, Md., on Oct. 15, 2008, to watch the final presidential debate between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.
Get ready for presidential candidates’ quips about high altitude, the Long Island Rail Road, swimsuits and bluegrass.
The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has announced that it has scheduled four debates for the 2012 U.S. presidential election cycle, and they will take place in Colorado, New York, Florida and Kentucky, the New York Times reports.
The first debate between President Obama and the Republican nominee is set for Oct. 3 at the University of Denver, the commission announced. Two more will follow – at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., and at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. There will also be one vice presidential debate on Oct. 11 at Centre College in Danville, Ky.
Moderators will be chosen next summer, the Wall Street Journal reports. In 2008, Jim Lehrer of PBS, Tom Brokaw of NBC News and Bob Schieffer of CBS News nominated the three presidential debates and Gwen Ifill of PBS moderated the vice presidential debate.
The debate sites had to fulfill a long list of requirements to be chosen, the Denver Post reports.
According to the Denver Post:
DU [Denver University] was able to meet a rigorous set of requirements, including an air conditioned debate hall of at least 17,000 square feet, large parking lots to accommodate both people attending and covering the debate and television remote trucks, trailers and satellite trucks, a large hall for a media filing center lot, the ability to distribute tickets, and the availability of approximately 3,000 hotel rooms for the event within 30 minutes drive.
Meanwhile, there seems to be no end to the debates in the Republican primary campaign, the New York Times notes. Nine debates have occurred or been scheduled so far and more than a half-dozen may be added before the year’s over. Unlike in the general election, where debates are controlled by the Commission on Presidential Debates, cable television networks can schedule as many debates as they think will draw viewers during the primaries, the New York Times reports.
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