ST. LOUIS-Excitement filled the air as satellite trucks and TV sets packed the grounds at Washington University Thursday in preparation for tonight's presidential debate.
As finishing touches were put on the set where President Bush and his Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., will debate the issues, university officials said things were going as planned. With just over 24 hours before the candidates take the stage, Steven Givens, chair of Washington University's presidential debate steering committee, said there are some finishing touches being worked out, but nothing unexpected.
\The good thing is our planning has been so thorough that now we're able to deal with special requests,"" Givens said.
One major thing that has yet to be decided is who will make up the audience in the town hall style debate. Tickets are divided three ways, with each of the campaigns receiving one third and the Commission on Presidential Debates allotting the remainder. A pool of people eligible for tickets has already been selected, but they will not know for sure who of those will make it inside the debate hall until tonight.
The debate is a town-hall style event, which according to UW-Madison communication arts Professor Stephen Lucas could potentially have a huge impact on the candidates.
""That leads to the possibility of a kind of interaction between the individual voter and the candidate, that apart from the content of the question, can have a real impact on the way things are perceived,"" he said.
Some Washington University students will make it into the crowd, one of the perks of attending a school hosting a debate. But even without a ticket for the hall itself, students have plenty of opportunities to be in the spotlight with national media attention centering on the St. Louis campus. CNN is broadcasting right outside the athletic building-turned debate hall/media filing center and MSNBC's Chris Matthews is playing hardball on the campus lawn.
Security on campus is tight with the debate site fenced off and limited to those with media credentials or other passes signifying that they have been screened by the Secret Service. But overall things aren't too different from four years ago, the last time Washington University played host to a debate, Givens said.
As far as the candidates' preparations, UW-Madison political science Professor Donald Downs said Bush is going to try and rebound from what he called a poor performance last Thursday. He said every Republican he talked to was upset with the President's showing, especially after Kerry gained ground in the polls taken just days after.
""If Bush falls flat on his face I think that's really going to damage him,"" he said. ""Bush has got to show that he's with it. I think he really blew a marvelous opportunity a week ago to do that.""
In Tuesday's vice presidential debate, Cheney focused largely on the records of Kerry and Edwards. Downs said he thinks Bush will try to keep that a focus of tonight's debate despite the fact that the theme will be domestic policy.
Kerry, on the other hand, will counterattack Bush's record on the war in Iraq, Downs said.
""With Bush, it's going to be more the way you were. With Kerry it's going to be with what Bush has just done,"" he said.
Downs said second debates typically garner less public interest, but added this debate should garner viewership given Bush's previous performance. He likened it to the 1984 presidential elections, in which the country was poised to watch the second debate after Ronald Reagan faltered in the first face-off.
""In a funny way I think there will be more interest, because things started turning a bit because of Bush's performance,"" he said. ""Will he show up at the plate this time?""
-Maureen Backman contributed to this report.
