Additional utility poles have been erected at Centre's field hockey field, pay telephones have been installed and the school will bring in 40 temporary toilets. Because of limited parking on campus, students will have to move their cars to parking lots off campus and many news media representatives will also have to park elsewhere. Danville and Boyle County have helped identify parking areas around town, and shuttles will take people to and from campus. As many as 600 student volunteers and 200 Centre employees will be involved in some phase of the debate. Some will help supervise parking lots, work in the media rooms and help answer questions for people attending the debate.
Centre is involved in a massive public-relations drive to draw attention to itself and the debate.
The school is selling a line of debate memorabilia and has distributed more than 12,000 campaign-style buttons to schoolchildren and others. Questions arose this summer about whether the debate would actually be held at Centre after George W. Bush's campaign proposed a series of televised debates not sponsored by the commission. The debate appeared in grave danger Labor Day weekend when Bush said that Cheney would participate in a vice presidential debate in North Carolina, but on Sept. 14 the Bush campaign agreed to the Danville debate. Ashley Sides, a senior majoring in government, has worked on the debate as an intern since last winter. Danville and surrounding communities have had to step up as well.