DANVILLE, KY (LEX 18) — In 1998, Centre College hired a new president with an ambitious goal to make the small Kentucky school a national name. President John Roush proposed the idea of hosting a presidential debate.
"No one thought that was a remote possibility," said Richard Trollinger.
Centre made its pitch by arguing it was time to show a debate in a small rural town where most Americans live. Once Centre College was officially selected, the town of Danville rallied behind the effort.
"People were repainting their businesses and store fronts downtown. It was a really Norman Rockwell for the college and the town," said Jamey Leahey, vice president for legal affairs.
However, Centre received surprising news two months before the debate was scheduled to take place.
"Before the debate was to happen the Bush campaign said they weren't going to participate," Trollinger said.
Young minds had other plans and made compelling arguments that the debate should happen in Danville, where some local elementary students wrote letters.
Trollinger, who helped set up the debate, witnessed history on October 5, 2000.
"It was deemed by the media to be a consequential debate," Trollinger said.
Both Joseph Lieberman and Dick Cheney made their cases for why they would be good vice presidents. However, attendees felt Cheney showed that conversations can happen between people who don't share the same opinions.
"When he was on campus here, he demonstrated that he was a statesman, he had a good command on policy, and how things really work, demonstrated that he can have a gentleman like debate with someone on the other side of the aisle," Leahey said.
Once the final arguments were made, many people agreed that Centre College helped set the standard for other presidential debates.
"When we held the debate here in 2000 we demonstrated that we can do a debate really well. The presidential debate commission said we want to do that again," Leahey said.
In 2012, Centre College was rewarded with another vice presidential debate between then-Vice President Joe Biden and Representative Paul Ryan from Wisconsin.
