The Commission on Presidential Debates announced today that it has chosen Belmont University, in Nashville, to play host to a town-hall debate between the presidential candidates next fall.

The debate will take place on October 7, 2008, at Belmont’s Curb Event Center and is expected to attract 2,500 members of the media to the university, which has an enrollment of about 4,800 students.

The event will represent the first time that a presidential debate has been held in the state since the commission was established two decades ago.

Also playing host to presidential debates will be the University of Mississippi at Oxford and Hofstra University, in Hempstead, N.Y. A vice-presidential debate will be held at Washington University in St. Louis.