Evan Goldin | Losing the debate

In about 18 months, the now-wide-open field of presidential hopefuls will likely be whittled down to two candidates. And those two candidates will face off, Athens style, in two or three presidential debates.

The debates have become a fascinating, important part of modern presidential campaigns. From Nixon to Bentsen (does "you're no Jack Kennedy" ring a bell?), they've shaped legacies and elections. And the fact that 60 million reality-television-loving Americans watch something remotely educational speaks volumes.

More important for us, dear DP readers, it's probably the most important role universities play in presidential elections.

Penn, for its part, has some experience with the debates. In 1984, the University made its only debate appearance - kind of (the venue was off campus and the city paid for it). Historic Convention Hall, located before its demolition just south of the hospital on 34th Street, played host to the vice-presidential debate between George Bush and Geraldine Ferraro.

In 1996, the University made a valiant effort to host a debate by itself. After visits from the executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates and student rallies, the school received the highest rating of any of the nine sites vying to host a debate that year. The outcome: Penn played backup site.

Disappointed, the University made another effort this year, and the cards, finally, seemed stacked in Penn's favor.

Both Philadelphia and University City have seen a renaissance in the last decade that make the area appealing for visitors. And though registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in this city by a 5-1 margin, Pennsylvania is now a major battleground state in presidential elections. Bush and Kerry visited the state a combined 66 times during their campaigns.

Furthermore, the Annenberg School gets more involved in elections with every passing four years - the Annenberg Public Policy Center's FactCheck.org project is heavily relied upon by both journalists and campaigns. The APPC will be opening a brand-new, $30 million complex at 36th and Walnut streets in 2008. A debate somewhere on campus would be the perfect way to celebrate the center's opening.

And the Commission on Presidential Debates seemed to agree.

"The staff really liked Irvine," said Vanda McMurtry, Penn's top government relations official, who led the school's effort to host a debate. When Commission representatives visited campus recently, "They seemed really enthusiastic about a debate at Penn because of the history of the place and Ben Franklin and a campus over which we have administrative control."

There's little doubt about the effect the debate would have on campus. If students held a rally in 1996 just to try to bring the debate here, imagine the buzz an actual debate would cause, as the media descended and the next president came to campus.

College Republicans President and Wharton junior Jack Abraham said that his group and the Penn Democrats would have surely galvanized students around the debate. "It would have been a fantastic opportunity for students on this campus to be in the heart of our country's political process and observe it firsthand," he said.

Yes, it would have.

While all the indicators looked great for holding a presidential debate in Irvine in 2008, the Commission dropped a deal-breaking bomb: Penn would have to close eight city blocks, between 34th and 38th streets and Spruce and Walnut streets. And not just on the day of the debate - but on the three days preceding it as well.

The debate preparation crew, as McMurtry explained, essentially has to construct both a television studio and a power plant in and around the venue, and it needs the streets to do so.

Students, of course, could have handled the road closures. Joy-riding down Spruce isn't exactly a Penn pastime, or even a common occurrence. On the other hand, the hospital at 34th and Spruce, opposite Irvine, couldn't handle the closure.

"The question pretty much answered itself," McMurtry said. We have one of the most important medical centers in the world, can we really close two major streets going into the facility for four days?"

And that's a tragedy for the debates, for Penn and for Philadelphia.

Debates help students "buy in to the political process," said Steve Gibbons, who helped plan the 2004 debate at Washington University in St. Louis, a regular debate host site. In addition, he said, it gives the school and the city the chance to be in the national spotlight, and you can bet that WashU proudly trumpeted its host-site status in marketing materials, at least in 2004.

Penn won't get that chance, at least not any time soon.

HUP sure isn't going anywhere, and McMurtry and Annenberg Dean Michael Delli Carpini said neither Zellerbach, the new APPC building or even the gymnasiums (which were the attempted host locations in 1996) could accommodate a debate.

A solution, however, may lie to the east. Penn has already acquired the 24-acre postal lands, and when asked about the development of a venue as large or larger than Irvine, Facilities spokesman Tony Sorrentino said via e-mail that Penn's development plan "would not preclude a building like that on the east side of campus."

If we ever want a debate on campus, it's either that or move the hospital.

Evan Goldin is a College senior from Palo Alto, Calif. The Gold Standard appears on alternate Tuesdays. His e-mail address is goldin@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.