Despite Sen. John McCain moving to delay the first presidential debate, the University of Mississippi is continuing to prepare for the event tonight at the Ford Center.
McCain suspended his campaign Wednesday in order to work on legislation that could bail out Wall Street.
According to an Associated Press report, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said although progress had been made with bailout legislation, McCain’s status for the debate was still in question.
“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” he said. “We’re optimistic, but we want to get this thing done.”
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said he expects both candidates to be at the debate, even though Sen. McCain said he will only go if Congress reaches a deal on the bailout, according to a CNN.com report.
The 8 p.m. debate between Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama and Republican candidate John McCain will focus on foreign policy and national security. The debate will be hosted by “The News Hour” anchor Jim Lehrer.
According to Andrew Harper, Ole Miss media productions director, Curtis Wilkie and executive assistant to the chancellor Andy Mullins began talking about wanting a presidential debate at Ole Miss several years ago.
“They worked with the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that [produces] the debates,” he said. “[They] began negotiating with them four years ago, which culminated in an application process.”
He also said 52 events and 19 special classes were held on campus leading up to the debate.
“Even though we knew we wouldn’t have a lot of students actually being in the auditorium, we scheduled a lot of opportunities, including a Rock the Debate festival all day Friday,” Harper said. “We worked really hard to make sure we had something for the students and the community as well.”
Ole Miss Police Chief Calvin Sellers said he is anticipating a large attendance at the Rock the Debate festival in the Grove.
“We’re going to have live bands and food vendors and an issue alley where people can express views about different things all afternoon long,” he said.
“It starts at noon and runs all the way up to the time of the debate. [The bands will stop] and the debate will be shown on two large-screen televisions.”
Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute of Government, said candidates’ performances in debates can hugely impact their campaigns.
“When things are this close, any gaffe can make a point or two difference [in the polls] and put a little more distance between you and the competitor,” Wiseman said. “I would say there are three things that are remembered about debates: image, gaffes and zingers.”
Harper said a large contention of media and political campaign party officials will attend the debate.
“The number of seats that we have will be totally up to the Commission,” he said. “In the end we made the decision that any seats that would be provided to the university would go directly to the students.”
He said students developed a system for deciding who would get tickets to the debate involving a passport system in which students received points for attending activities.
“The number of points or the number of passport punches that you had allowed you then to be put in the lottery with more opportunities,” Harper said.
“They had a drawing on Sunday to determine which students would get tickets for the Ford Center.”
Wiseman said people from all over the world will watch the debate.
“If we ever got a shot at looking good as a state to as many people as possible, then this should do it.”
Harper also said the debate will be a great event for the state.
“We can all come together and show the world that Mississippi is a place that is worthy of having potentially the most watched television event in U.S. history,” he said.