Question of the Day: Students at the Debate

We'll be bringing you a question each day from Belmont students and members of the community about different aspects of the debate, and the answer from Belmont. Today, Belmont freshman Greta Crouch asks about student attendance at the debate:



According to Pamela Johnson, Belmont's debate coordinator, students may still have a shot at getting into the debate. The school plans to hold a student lottery on its intranet site for any tickets that come available, starting Sept. 16. The catch? Belmont won't know how many tickets will be available until just a few days before the debate, Johnson said, and nearly all students living on campus must turn in their plans to either stay or go by the end of today.

None of the universities hosting the debates know how many tickets they will have available until shortly before the events. The debates are designed first and foremost to be shown on television, Johnson said, which already limits how many seats could be available. On three sides of the stage, 40-foot-high drapes will mask most of the arena to viewers, Johnson said,

"The amount of space available will be very limited," Johnson said. "We hope to accommodate some students, but we won't know until two or three days before the debate."

The restrictions on movement on campus, which include a ban on visitors to campus residence halls from Oct. 4-8, are due to security for the event. All students planning to stay on campus will have to be credentialed, Johnson said.

MySpace tapped to collect presidential debate questions

A reader asks how to get an "internet question" to the candidates for the Belmont debate if you're not chosen by Gallup.

Here's the deal: The Commission on Presidential Debates, which puts on all of the debates, and MySpace, have a deal to create content and stream all of the debates live at mydebates.org. The site, which has little more than a press release up right now, will be the only way to submit questions for the candidates. NBC special correspondent Tom Brokaw, who will moderate the Belmont debate, will then choose which questions make it to the candidates.

In order to submit a questions, I'm betting you'll have to have a free MySpace account. The CPD did not have a launch date for mydebates.org when I called this morning, but said the site will be up before the Sept. 26 debate at the University of Mississippi.