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Editorial: Ready for prime time
The Times Picayune
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Any city that hosts a presidential debate must be able to meet the demands associated with a major media event, and a group from the Commission on Presidential Debates that's scoping out New Orleans today will want to know if this city can handle the logistics.
The answer is an emphatic yes.
Women of the Storm and the four universities that are sponsoring New Orleans' bid understand what is required. The proposed site for the debate, the auditorium at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, can be configured any way the commission wants. And the city has sufficient hotel accommodations.
Beyond that, New Orleans has been the subject of intense national and international media interest for nearly 22 months. The thousands of reporters who are drawn by a presidential debate won't be a new phenomenon for a city that was teeming with reporters after Hurricane Katrina.
Neither will the influx of high-profile figures and their security requirements. Since the storm, New Orleans has been visited numerous times by President Bush and Laura Bush. More recently, Hillary Clinton came to New Orleans to deliver the commencement address at Dillard University. Their visits and those of other national figures have gone off without incident.
New Orleans is quite experienced at playing host on a large scale, from Carnival and Jazzfest to the Super Bowl; in fact, the first Super Bowl after the Sept. 11 attacks was played at the Dome.
New Orleans can clearly hold its own on logistical grounds. But we also have something that the other 17 cities vying for a debate can't claim: a compelling context for important issues like disaster preparedness and recovery, health care and education reform, climate change and more. That's a unique qualification, and one that the commission shouldn't overlook.
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