As Daniel noted, the Commission on Presidential Debates just released its schedule of fight nights for the general election, and the West Coast lost out. The nominees will square off in Nashville; St. Louis; Long Island, NY (Aunt Elaine, prepare your couch!); and Oxford, Mississippi.
That latter location would seem a perfect opening to address the scandalously slow pace of recovery from Hurricane Katrina ... were Oxford not closer to Nashville than to the Gulf Coast. Cue Louisiana senator Mary Landrieu, a stalwart defender of her state:
The Commission appears to have lost sight of the public interest it was chartered to serve. New Orleans was the only site supported by a bipartisan number of presidential candidates. The most prominent news organizations called for a debate in the city, and voters across the nation have clamored for the discussion the venue would raise about the federal government's role, responsibility and competence in a catastrophic disaster. Now it seems some inside the Commission's deliberations set aside this unprecedented public consensus.
She finishes by accusing the commission of compromising its partiality.
