Lawrence residents gear up for 2nd debate

Town-hall event to include first questions about domestic policy

A handful of Lawrence residents are hitting the road to participate in events surrounding today’s presidential debate.

Six people involved with the Kansas Brigade of Veterans for Kerry-Edwards will travel to St. Louis to attend a rally while President Bush and Sen. John Kerry square off at 8 p.m. in the second of three scheduled debates.

“I think it’s an important debate,” said Gil Zemansky, chairman of the Lawrence division of the Kansas Brigade. “It’s also relatively nearby, and this is an opportunity to show people that veterans do support Senator John Kerry.”

The debate arrangement will be different from last week’s confrontation. Tonight’s meeting is a town hall-style format with audience members rather than journalists asking the questions at Washington University in St. Louis.

There will be new information on the economy and the Iraq war for the candidates to fight over: this week’s report from the U.S. arms inspector and figures, due out this morning, on national unemployment.

Lawrence residents not heading to St. Louis have organized at least one venue, apart from private gatherings and taverns with TV sets, for watching tonight’s matchup.

Kansas University’s DebateWatch begins at 8 p.m. in the Simons Family Media Center at the Dole Institute of Politics.

“Community people are welcome. In fact, we encourage community people to come,” said Diana Carlin, a KU professor and dean who is an expert on presidential debates. She said more space would be made available if there was a large crowd.

Carlin is a former national director of DebateWatch, which is a voter education program of the Commission on Presidential Debates.

With Friday night events such as high school football going on across the nation, Carlin said the debate on domestic issues probably would be seen by fewer people than the estimated 65 million viewers who tuned in for the first debate.

But she urged people to watch tonight nonetheless.

“It should be an interesting debate because it’s the town hall and also it will be the first time the two presidential candidates talk about domestic policy,” she said.

Neither Douglas County Republicans nor Democrats have organized watch parties for tonight’s debate. Instead, party officials are suggesting people attend KU’s DebateWatch.

Though presidential debates on a Friday are not common, Carlin said tonight’s wouldn’t be a first. It happened during the 1960 presidential race, when the candidates were John Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

“And they had high viewership,” she said.