Tagged: VP debate

Two former Kentucky political foes are offering spin at the vice presidential debate Thursday in Danville. Republican Sen. Rand Paul and Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway will be among the pundits speaking to reporters covering the matchup between Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan. Conway and Paul faced off in the heated 2010 Senate race. Paul won, and Conway was elected for a second term as Kentucky’s attorney general.

Politicians are not the only ones hoping for a boost from Wednesday’s vice presidential debate. Danville is preparing for visitors and recognition too. The city of about 16,000 has repaved streets, planted flowers and erected new signs all in preparation for the debate and the many visitors that it will bring into town. One of the local bars has even created cocktails bearing Joe Biden and Paul Ryan’s names. That’s a big change from the last time the debate was held at Danville’s Centre College in 2000, when alcohol sales were banned in the city.

Centre College alumni living in western Kentucky plan to host watch parties in honor of the Vice Presidential debates held on the school’s campus Thursday. Alumni in Paducah, Madisonville, Erlanger and Glasgow in Kentucky will participate with local events for Centre graduates and their families.

Security at Centre College in Danville has significantly increased for Thursday’s vice presidential debate. The most outward signs of this increase include chain-link fences and concrete barriers on the streets surrounding the college. Centre’s Debate Committee Co-chairman Clarence Wyatt says planning this year is much more complex than when the college hosted its first vice presidential debate in 2000. Roads around the campus will be closed starting Tuesday and anyone attending the event should expect their bags to be searched.