About the Author

Michael Nelson, a former editor of The Washington Monthly, is a professor of political science at Rhodes College and a nonresident senior fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Among his most recent books are How the South Joined the Gambling Nation: The Politics of State Policy Innovation, with John Lyman Mason, and The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1787-2008, with Sidney M. Milkis. He is currently writing books about the 1968 election and the 2008 election.

About Brainstorm

Brainstorm is The Chronicle Review's team of bloggers on ideas, culture, and the arts.

RSS | Atom

Gina Barreca
Mark Bauerlein
Marc Bousquet
Kevin Carey
Laurie Fendrich
Teresa Ghilarducci, guest blogger
Sara Goldrick-Rab, guest blogger
John L. Jackson Jr.
Stan Katz

Brainstorm Alumni

Eric Banks
Dan Greenberg
Michael Nelson, guest blogger
Marty Nemko, guest blogger
Graham Spanier
Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
Bob Zemsky

Search

Recent Posts

Mentoring and Reverse Mentoring: A Thanksgiving Farewell | Comment [2]

What's Wrong With Being in Congress? | Comment [1]

Whistling Dixie | Comment [10]

Election 2008: A View From West Point | Comment [1]

Smart Move, Poorly Executed | Comment [9]

Featured Articles By the Author

A Historic Political Street Fight

John Adams, in Brilliant Colors

Presidential Power

Stereotype, Then and Now

Nixon's Final Campaign

The Midterm Elections

LBJ's Waning and Waxing Reputation

Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and the Power of GOPtimism

For the Love of Narnia

How the GOP Conquered the South

College-Sports Books Go Varsity

Presidential Libraries Are Valuable Reflections of Their Eras

'K Street': A Political Hall of Mirrors

Michael Beschloss: Celebrity Meets Scholarship

The Scholar-Courtier and the Scholar-Politician

'Thirteen Days' Doesn't Add Up

John F. Kennedy and Achilles: Two of a Kind

Hosting a Presidential Debate: The Ole Miss Experience, Part I

On September 26, 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy debated Vice President Richard M. Nixon on national television. It was the first debate ever between two presidential candidates, and the most-watched political event in human history up to that time. The debate took place in a Chicago television studio.

On September 26, 2008, the first debate in this year’s contest between Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama will take place, not in a studio but on the campus of the University of Mississippi.

The first on-campus presidential debate — the one between President Gerald Ford and Gov. Jimmy Carter at William and Mary — was in 1976. It didn’t start an immediate trend: In 1980 and 1984, debates were held, just not in academic settings. But in 1988 the newly-formed Commission on Presidential Debates, a bipartisan group headed by the Republican and Democratic national chairs, took control of the debates and moved most of them onto campuses.

Two of the three 1988 debates were at Wake Forest and UCLA. From 1992 to 2004, 15 of 17 presidential and vice presidential debates took place on campuses, and this year all four will: Ole Miss, Washington University, Belmont University, and Hofstra University. This will be Wash U’s fourth debate. Wake Forest has hosted two, and several other schools have hosted one: UCLA, William and Mary, the University of Richmond, Michigan State, Georgia Tech, the University of San Diego, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, Centre College, the University of Miami, Case Western, and Arizona State.

I visited Ole Miss yesterday to give a public talk and to visit with Chancellor Robert Khayat and his executive assistant, Andy Mullins, who is honchoing the September 26 event. I wanted to know why they sought to host a debate (the subject of this Friday’s post), how they landed one (tune in next week), and how the debate is affecting life at the university now and, they hope, in the future (coming soon).

Comments

1. I remember Ole Miss as lily white segregationist, and the state (which got a lot more Katrina relief from the Bush Administration than Democratic Louisiana) has been strongly Republican except for a recent breakthrough by-election, right? Why is this a suitable neutral site for a Presidential debate that includes the first African-Kansan (aka “black”) candidate?

   — Bill S. · Sep 5, 10:29 AM · #

2. Oxford and Ole Miss are somewhat different now, and I would hope you allow that people and places can change. There’s more work to be done, I don’t think anyone would deny that either.

   — vince · Sep 5, 11:14 AM · #

3. My take was the opposite from the first commenter. It seems to me to be an important statement that the U of Mississippi would host the first debate with a black candidate.

   If the Confederate flag is plastered everywhere and crosses are burning on the grass, that’s obviously a different story, but I don’t expect that to be the case.

   I take it as a sign of progress.

   — me · Sep 5, 12:01 PM · #

4. Questions: Who is invited? How will the audience be decided, students only, tickets, first come first served, etc.? Will questions be taken from the audience or be pre-selected? What time is the debate?

   — C. B. Catchings · Sep 10, 09:58 AM · #

5. Me and a coworker are wanting to go to the debate at Ole Miss but are not sure who is invited.
   Is it just students or can the voting public attend?

   — Joey · Sep 11, 10:10 PM · #

6. Who can attend the debate? How do you get a ticket? What time and where on campus will the debate take place?

   — Nicole · Sep 14, 06:09 PM · #

7. No nonstudent can get tickets right? We can Listen on live TV only right?

   — CHARLES A SEVIER · Sep 16, 07:01 PM · #

Commenting is closed for this article.

Previous: Choosing Sarah Palin
Next: Prez Debate at Ole Miss, Part II