The Commission on Presidential Debates, an organization created in 1988 by the two major parties to organize debates for the general election season, has selected Oxford, Mississippi; Nashville, Tennessee; and Hempstead, New York, as the sites for next year's presidential debates, plus a vice-presidential debate in St. Louis, Missouri.

In a somewhat controversial move, the commission skipped over one of the 16 finalists — New Orleans. The New York Times reports that a local advocate in New Orleans said that Paul G. Kirk Jr., the Democratic co-chairman of the commission told her that the city was passed over because it was "not ready" for an event of this size. Kirk denies making any such statement, but did say that New Orleans does not meet the "enormous strategic challenges" of hosting a presidential debate.