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american.swan
11-19-2007, 11:38 PM
USA Today Reporting: obtained via news.google.com
WASHINGTON — Going up against Friday night football, the first of three presidential debates next year will take place Sept. 26 at the University of Mississippi.

The site was announced Monday by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, sponsor of the quadrennial face-offs since 1988.

The news delighted Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., a former Ole Miss cheerleader. He said the contest will bring the presidential campaign to an "often overlooked" area. It disappointed Anne Milling, a Hurricane Katrina survivor who backed New Orleans' losing bid as the "clear moral choice."

After the debate on domestic issues in Oxford, Miss., the presidential contenders will visit Belmont University in Nashville on Oct. 7 for a town hall meeting and Hofstra University on Long Island, N.Y., on Oct. 15 to discuss foreign policy.

The vice presidential candidates will debate on Oct. 2 at Washington University in St. Louis, the site of presidential debates in 1992, 2000 and 2004.

All of the debates will last 90 minutes.

Former Republican Party chairman Frank Fahrenkopf, who co-chairs the commission along with former Democratic Party chairman Paul Kirk, said candidates will be encouraged to interact with each other rather than simply respond to moderators' questions. "We think it will liven up the debate," Fahrenkopf said.

The Oct. 7 debate between the presidential candidates, a town hall format in which most of the questions will come from a live audience, also will include questions submitted via the Internet.

"We don't want people dressed up as snowmen asking questions," Fahrenkopf said, referring to a Democratic debate earlier this year in which voters submitted questions via YouTube. "We're not going there."