Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Mississippi State group currently sponsoring a series of four debates among 3rd Congressional District representative candidates is announcing a new location for the final debate March 3 at the university.
The 7 p.m. public service program sponsored by the student Stennis-Montgomery Association will be held in the 1,000-seat Lee Hall auditorium. Doors will open at 6.
Lee Hall also was the site of the group's highly successful gubernatorial candidates debate last fall. Unlike the earlier debate, the March event will not include reserved seating for candidate supporters or any others.
Two Democratic and seven Republican candidates are seeking to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.).
Randy Eads of Starkville and Joel Gill of Pickens are the Democratic Party candidates. The GOP list includes James Broadwater of Flowood; Gregg Harper of Pearl; Gregory Hatcher and Bill Marcy, both of Meridian; David Landrum and John Rounsaville, both of Madison; and Charlie Ross of Brandon.
According to SMA organizers, eight of the nine candidates have committed to take part in the MSU debate. Only Ross will be unable to attend.
For the convenience of audience members unfamiliar with central campus, busses will begin running at 6 p.m. between the shuttle stop near Humphrey Coliseum parking lot and Lee Hall.
For those unable to attend, the debate will be carried live in a 70-mile radius by campus radio station WMSV-FM, 91.1. It also will be streamed via the radio station's Web site, www.wmsv.msstate.edu, and the university Web site, www.msstate.edu.
Sid Salter, Clarion-Ledger "Perspective" editor, is moderating all of the sessions. Sharing the Lee Hall stage with him and providing questions for the candidates will be local media representatives Brian Hawkins, editor of the Starkville Daily News, and Aundrea Self, news anchor/reporter at WCBI-TV in Columbus.
In connection with the final debate, the Stennis-Montgomery Association will hold a voter-registration drive outside the MSU auditorium. While registration at this time will not afford registrants the opportunity to vote in party primaries, it will make possible the casting of ballots in the November general election.
Under rules agreed to by all candidates, the debate will last no longer than two hours. In answering questions posed by Hawkins and Self, each of the nine must limit his reply to no more than two minutes. Each also will be given two minutes for opening and closing statements.
The Stennis-Montgomery Association was created to encourage student involvement in the political process. It is a memorial to late MSU alumni John C. Stennis and G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery, each of whom had long and distinguished careers, respectively, in the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
MSU's Stennis Institute of Government is assisting the student organization in planning the debate programs.
For additional information on the MSU debate, contact Lydia Quarles, Joanna Frederick or Lori Ann Holland of the Stennis Institute at 662-325-3328. Quarles also may be reached at lydia.quarles@sig.msstate.edu .
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.