The Presidential Debate in Nashville at Belmont on Oct. 7, 8 PM Central Time will be about: the environment? jobs? the economy? health care? It is expected that over 2,500 different media from around the world will be in Nashville prior to and running up to the debate. Are we ready? Come and share your ideas and how you think your organization may want to participate.

The dignitaries will be there. They are on the honorary debate commission. There is a real question about whether this debate will be "more of the status quo" or "a debate about the needs of real working families."

Join Doug Collier, SEIU, Local 205 President, and Tony Garr, Tennessee Health Care Campaign Director, to plan how this event can spark REAL change. NOW is the time to get involved.

Email Tony Garr at tgarr@thcc2.org to save a place and come to the planning meeting on:

Thursday: July 24, 2008
11:30 AM to 1:00 PM - Bring your own lunch
SEIU's Office, Local 205
521 Gallatin Ave., Nashville, TN 37206

Please REPLY to this email if you plan to attend this planning meeting.

Please share this email with others you think would be interested.

Click on the links below for background information on the debate: http://www.belmontdebate08.com/ and http://forum.belmont.edu/umac/archives/cat_debate08.html

For additional information, you can go to:http://www.debates.org/

The Belmont presidential (town meeting format) debate will include any issues raised by members of that audience (Tickets: No information regarding tickets for any of the debates will be available until mid-September.)

A departure from past CPD formats will be the introduction of internet access to the presidential town meeting debate. Questions solicited by Internet will be included with those from citizens on the stage with the candidates.
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More background:

Tennessee has been home to three former United States Presidents—Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson and James K. Polk—but this will be the first time a presidential debate has been held in Tennessee.

The Presidential Debate at Belmont will be held in the Curb Event Center, home of the NCAA Division-I Belmont Bruins basketball and volleyball teams and host site of the live CMT Music Awards show two years in a row. With a generous gift from the Mike Curb Family Foundation, The Curb Event Center opened in 2003. Seating 5,500 and equipped with state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems, the versatile, in-the-round facility is ideal for the Town Hall format, in which citizens propose questions directly to the candidates. The debate is expected to attract more than 2,500 members of the media to Nashville, along with the candidates’ campaigns and supporters, and will be viewed by millions worldwide.

A task force of faculty and staff from Belmont, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee State University, Volunteer State Community College, Trevecca University and Nashville State Technical Community College has formed to create several opportunities for city-wide learning centered on Belmont’s role as Town Hall Presidential Debate host site. While Belmont is in the unique role of host site for the debate, this consortium with other schools celebrates the opportunity this debate offers Nashville and Tennessee – an occasion never before experienced in the city or state that has produced three American presidents (Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson).

A variety of speaker series, visual and performing arts programs, and activities and events designed specifically for students at Belmont and city-wide are slated for the 2008-09 school year. The Key Issues Speaker Series will bring an array of experts to campus to discuss issues of importance to voters in this election year: energy, the environment, entrepreneurship, health care, media and religion. Speakers will include Belmont faculty and special guests distinguished in their respective fields.

The Office of Spiritual Development has put together a comprehensive schedule of events that focus on spirituality’s place in the world of American politics. The complete schedule of events includes:
• Citizenship and Faith – Tony Campolo – September 3, 2008
• The American Empire and the Kingdom of God – Dr. Stanley Hauerwas – September 17, 2008
• The Media and Religion – Barbara Bradley Hagerty – September 24, 2008
• Jesus for President – Shane Claiborne – October 1, 2008
• Faith-Informed Political Science – Dr. Vaughn May – October 22, 2008
• How Would Jesus Vote? – Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner – October 29, 2008

Belmont is also planning several opportunities for students to actively participate in the democratic process, such as voter registration drives, viewing parties for the series of presidential and vice presidential debates and a post-debate mock election on campus. The Belmont Student Government Association has already begun voter registration drives this spring at a variety of on-campus concerts and programs. The Belmont Program Board, a student group on campus that hosts several programs throughout the year, is bringing rock n’ roll historian, Barry Drake, to campus to discuss the rock music of the 1970s and its role in the changing political atmosphere of that time.

Details on all scheduled programming at this time can be found in the downloadable calendar below. For an up-to-date schedule of all Debate 08 programs and events at Belmont University, please visit http://www.belmontdebate08.com/

Take care,

Tony Garr, 227-7500, or tgarr@thcc2.org