Home >  Nation & World >  U.S. News

14 sites considered for forum

Friday, April 25, 2003

By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Pittsburgh had to scrap its bid to host the 2004 Democratic National Convention and lost out as the new home for the Army-Navy football game, but that hasn't stopped the city from competing for big-time events.

Now it's in the running to become a site for a presidential debate in the fall of 2004.

The Commission on Presidential Debates said yesterday that Pittsburgh is one of 14 potential locations for a campaign debate between President Bush and his Democratic challenger.

To be considered, a debate site must be able to provide 2,500 hotel rooms and must have a hall at least 17,000 square feet in size.

It also needs a second facility of at least 17,500 square feet for journalists. The internationally televised debate is expected to draw about 2,000 print, TV and radio reporters, cameramen, microphone operators and others from the news media.

"We are looking at a number of sites [in Pittsburgh] to determine whether they fit all the criteria necessary for hosting the debate and the visiting media," said Joseph R. McGrath, president of the Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"We are very excited about this opportunity and the international visibility that it would afford us in Pittsburgh," he added.

"We know that Pittsburgh has what it takes to make this a memorable, exciting, safe and well-run event. Our team will be working hard in the coming weeks to prepare for the upcoming site selection visit."

The debate commission will survey all 14 potential locations over the next few months. It's expected to announce the finalists in November.

Other locations competing for the 2004 debates include: Arizona State University in Tempe; Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.; Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland; Centre College in Danville, Ky.; Columbus State University in Georgia; Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y.; the University of Kansas in Lawrence; the University of Miami; the University of North Carolina at Charlotte; the University of South Carolina in Columbia; Vanderbilt University in Nashville; Washington University in St. Louis; and National Public Radio, based in Washington, D.C.

The debate commission, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group, sponsored debates among the presidential and vice presidential candidates in 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000.

In recent presidential election years, three debates have been held. It isn't known yet how many will be held in the fall of 2004.