Republican Debate at Calvin College
updated December 9, 2004

On January 10 2000, Calvin College was honored to host a debate among the Republican candidates for the presidential nominee. Those candidates included George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, as well as Gary Bauer, Steve Forbes, Orrin Hatch, Alan Keyes and John McCain.

2000 GOP Debate Links

Origins of the GOP Debate at Calvin
Welcome to the Media
Transcript of the Debate
RealAudio Archive
Behind the Scenes
Calvin Alumni Who've Made a Difference

NOTE: A variety of other links which were on the original GOP debate page have been deleted from this page. Those include such things as links to Calvin's political science department, Calvin's Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics, Calvin's alumni magazine (Spark) and student newspaper (Chimes), the Grand Rapids Convention and Visitors Bureau, etc. All of the pertinent debate links have been preserved, and in many cases updated, on this page.

The debate was hosted by WOOD TV, the Michigan Republicans, Kent County Republicans and Calvin College. The landmark event was held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The debate took place in the Calvin College Fine Arts Center, in front of approximately 1,100 ticketed spectators, and was televised live locally on WOOD TV (NBC) as well as nationally on such outlets as MSNBC and C-SPAN. Media coverage was immense and intense and the entire Calvin Commons Dining Hall was turned into a media center for the evening.

Among the people in the FAC for the debate were 175 students who were selected via a special drawing. Calvin also selected nine student questions for the third round of the debate, during which debate moderator Tim Russert posed the questions to the candidates on behalf of the students. The students who submitted the winning questions also were able to attend the debate.

Perhaps this page is still of interest for historical and other purposes. Thanks for visiting the site!

~Phil de Haan, director of media relations