The Presidential Debates

American Citizens Abroad, the Federal Voting Assistance Program (”FVAP”) and many others, have joined with the Commission on Presidential Debates (”CPD”) to make the 2008 election debates more accessible and valuable to Americans abroad.  DebateWatch is a nonpartisan program designed to bring U.S. citizens together to watch and discuss the upcoming presidential and vice presidential debates. And through a partnership with MySpace.com, which has set up a “one-stop shop” called MyDebates for all the debates, voters can submit questions for possible inclusion in the town hall debate slated for October 7.

More information about the CPD and MyDebates.org can be found at www.debates.org.

The schedule and format for the 2008 Presidential Debates is follows (all debates start at 9:00 p.m. EDT):

• First presidential debate: foreign policy and national security, moderated by Jim Lehrer, Friday, September 26, University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss.
  • Two-minute answers, followed by five-minute discussion for each question.
• Vice presidential debate: all topics, moderated by Gwen Ifill, Thursday, October 2, Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
  • Ninety-second answers, followed by two-minute discussion for each question. Two-minute closing statements.
• Second presidential debate: all topics in town meeting format, moderated by Tom Brokaw, Tuesday, October 7, Belmont University, Nashville, TN
  • Two-minute answers, followed by one-minute discussion for each question.
• Third presidential debate: the economy and domestic policy, moderated by Bob Schieffer, Wednesday, October 15, Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.
  • Two-minute answers, followed by five-minute discussion for each question. Two-minute closing statements.

All debates will be carried by international media outlets, have a single moderator and last for 90 minutes.