Published September 1st, 2010
Saint Mary's Hosts Senatorial Debate
By Sophie Braccini
Tonight Saint Mary's College of California (SMC) hosts the first U.S. Senatorial debate between incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer and Republican challenger Carly Fiorina. The one-hour debate will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the College's LeFevre Theatre. According to Michael McAlpin, SMC's Director of Media Relations, the College sought out the opportunity to host the U.S. Senate Debate. It is organized by three media partners, KTVU-Channel 2, KQED and the San Francisco Chronicle. Audience seats for the senate debate are by invitation only. The public can watch or listen to the debate on KTVU Fox 2 Television or on KQED Public Radio. It will also be streamed live on the Internet on KTVU.com with links to SFGATE.com and KQED.org. We'll post our report on our website, www.lamorindaweekly.com, on September 2nd.
"Over the past two years, the Office of College Communications has worked with various partners, such as the League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley and the Contra Costa Times to bring political forums and events to the College," said McAlpin. "The senatorial debate reflects a continued interest at Saint Mary's in hosting events that promote serious conversations about critical issues and ideas, which is integral to Saint Mary's liberal arts curriculum."
According to McAlpin, the reason for the invitation-only format is that the venue for the debate is a small theater with only 300 seats. As such, tickets were allocated through the sponsoring media partners. As the debate's host, SMC was able to reserve some seats for members of the SMC community.
The College plans to offer a post-election panel discussion after the November election. The forum will include Saint Mary's professors and invited experts who will discuss the election results and their meaning for the state and the nation.

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