Belmont U readied for McCain-Obama debate

NASHVILLE, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Belmont University in Nashville is being groomed for an expected spotlight role as host site of a presidential debate, school administrators say.

The 4,800-student campus has undergone a "botanical transformation" in the 10 months since the Commission on Presidential Debates named Belmont as host of an Oct. 7 debate between Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, The (Nashville) Tennessean reported.

Besides the work on campus, the Secret Service is sweeping through adjacent neighborhoods -- and assuring residents their homes won't be invaded -- the newspaper said.

"We're going to get up and ask them the questions, what's on our minds," Belmont President Bob Fisher said of the campaign's only town-hall-style debate. "That's going to give it such a home feeling for us -- a Nashville feel."

Students who stay on campus won't have food service the weekend before the Tuesday debate and will have to stay in their dormitories the debate night, the newspaper said.