Belmont president "stunned" by McCain proposal

Belmont President Bob Fisher says he can’t imagine what Ole Miss officials are going through after John McCain announced this afternoon he wanted to delay Friday’s debate to work on the financial crisis.

“I was stunned,” Fisher said. “I really feel badly for the people at Ole Miss. That was my first instinct, because I know how much work they have put into it.”

Fisher said he has not heard from the Commission on Presidential Debates, which oversees both the Ole Miss debate and the Oct. 7 presidential debate at Belmont. Belmont will continue its preparation plans as usual unless the commission says something different, Fisher said.

“It’s amazingly complicated what happens for these debates,” Fisher said. “We knew from the beginning that we weren’t in control of this process, and there’s an additional piece of proof.”