Political beliefs aside, no one can deny that it’s been a heated election year. Earlier this year the Democrats made big headlines with the face-off between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and now the Republican’s recent choice of Sarah Palin for Vice President has been causing a media circus. With a little over a month until election day, it seems that it could be anyone’s race.

The first presidential debate will be held at the University of Mississippi this Friday at 8:00 PM local time. The 90-minute debate will be divided into 8 minute segments for candidates to discuss the issues. The debate format is supposed to be looser, allowing for more thorough discussion of the issues. The focus of the debate will be foreign policy and national security issues. This will be the first time that voters will see Barack Obama and John McCain discuss the issues face to face.

As a country at war in what are shaping up to be tough economic times, it has become clear that this election will shape the direction our country takes for decades to come. Students hope this debate will shed more light on the candidates and where they stand on the issues. Senior Catey Oakley says “I’m looking forward to it. I don’t know what to expect. I hope they’ll answer the questions intelligently instead of beating around the question.”