THE DEBATES

I am super excited about the debates. I hope you are too. Here are the dates so that you can watch the candidates in action:

Each debate starts at 9PM Eastern Time. Click Here for updates/changes to the schedule.

September 26, 2008: Presidential debate with foreign policy focus.
Site: University of Mississippi – Topic: Foreign Policy & National Security – Moderator: Jim Lehrer – Staging: Podium debate – Answer Format: The debate will be broken into nine, 9-minute segments. The moderator will introduce a topic and allow each candidate 2 minutes to comment. After these initial answers, the moderator will facilitate an open discussion of the topic for the remaining 5 minutes, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment.

October 2, 2008: Vice Presidential debate, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Site: Washington University (St. Louis) – Moderator: Gwen Ifill – Staging/Answer Format: Debate will consist of both foreign and domestic policy questions asked by the moderator. Format will be similar to the presidential debates.

October 7, 2008: Presidential debate in a town hall format, Belmont University, Nashville, TN.
Site: Belmont University – Moderator: Tom Brokaw – Staging: Town Hall debate – Format: The moderator will call on members of the audience (and draw questions from the internet). Each candidate will have 2 minutes to respond to each question. Following those initial answers, the moderator will invite the candidates to respond to the previous answers, for a total of 1 minute, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment. In the spirit of the Town Hall, all questions will come from the audience (or internet), and not the moderator.

October 15, 2008: Presidential debate with domestic policy focus, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY.
Site: Hofstra University – Topic: Domestic and Economic Issues – Moderator: Bob Schieffer – Staging: Candidates will be seated at a table – Answer Format: Same as First Presidential Debate – Closing Statements: At the end of this debate (only) each candidate shall have the opportunity for a 90 second closing statement.

**Each debate will begin at 9pm eastern, 6pm Pacific Time and last for 90 minutes. They will be aired on every major broadcast network such as CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX. They will also be aired on cable outlets such as Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and many others.

Note: The topics of the 1st and 3rd presidential debates were switched, the Sept. 26th debate will be foreign policy with the Oct. 15th debate being domestic policy. This is the latest information.