News > November 21, 2007

By Molly Nevola | Staff writer

The university was chosen Nov. 19 as a backup site for the 2008 presidential debates, which will be held in September and October of next year. The Commission on Presidential Debates, which announced last April that it was considering 19 applicants to host the debates, named Wake Forest and Centre College in Danville, Ky. as backup sites for the actual host sites — the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss., Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. and Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

The 2000 Debate
Contemporary articles, photos, and more from Al Gore and George W. Bush's Oct. 2000 face off in Wait Chapel are online here.

A vice presidential debate will be held in October at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.

The university has previously hosted two presidential debates — between George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000 and between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis in 1998.

According to Sandra Boyette, senior advisor to the president, based on the experience of these two occasions, the university did not have an official committee but rather asked various people on campus to help write the proposal to the CPD.

These campus-affiliated members included Jennifer Richwine, director of university events, Jim Coffey and other members of Facilities Management, several from Information Systems and Chief Regina Lawson along with a few officers from University Police.

The university also enlisted endorsement from the Winston-Salem community such as Mayor Joines, Chief Pat Norris and the Winston-Salem Police Department, Stephen Dragisic and Bob McCoy of the Winston-Salem Convention and Visitors Bureau and Gayle Anderson from the Chamber of Commerce.

The university then submitted a formal proposal including very specific information, much of it technical, that the CPD required.

The CPD has two formats for debates. One of the debates will be in the “town meeting” format, that is, in a smaller venue with candidates walking around and engaging audience members.

The other three debates will be the format with a moderator, a panel of journalists and the two candidates.

Wait Chapel does not work for the “town meeting” format, but it does work well for the standard, moderated format, Boyette said.

“Therefore, if any of the venues that match our capability has to withdraw for any reason, Wake Forest would be called,” she said.

As for university preparations, a group will be meeting in early 2008 to determine what exactly it entails, but the university will not be spending any money to prepare as a backup site.

Boyette said that although the university is disappointed that it was not chosen as a host site, recognizing the many factors that go into such a decision, it is very glad to be chosen as a backup site.

According to the CPD site visit team whose members visited campus in June, Wake Forest was very well prepared and had an excellent proposal.

This year, the Commission chose three sites that had never hosted a debate before and one venue, Washington University, that had hosted previously.

“I think that the Commission made a decision to select new venues. It’s hard to say how much of a factor that was,” Boyette said.

Boyette said that she hopes that the university will again apply to host a debate in four years.

“It’s one of the most exciting and educational events that can happen on a campus, and it gets students especially very involved with what is perhaps our democracy’s most important exercise: electing a president.”