All eight of the Democratic candidates for president will be at the debate, which is sanctioned by the DNC, and will be moderated by NBC Washington bureau chief and Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert. This debate is the third of six officially sanctioned by the DNC. The first official event was held in July, and the most recent Democratic face-off took place in Des Moines, Iowa on Aug. 19.
Russert and NECN political reporter Alison King will both be posing questions to the candidates. Democratic N.H. Gov. John Lynch and DNC Chairman Howard Dean will both be in attendance.
The debate will be broken into four segments, with three commercial breaks of approximately three minutes each dividing the segments, according to NBC Vice President for Public Relations Jeremy Gaines.
Candidates will have 90 seconds to respond to questions, and the moderators may award them 30 seconds of rebuttal time, Gaines said.
"The last segment will be the so-called 'Lightning Round' where candidates are limited to 30 seconds for responses to try to get as many questions into the last segment as possible," he added.
Campus life will likely be disrupted for the first day of classes, as the Green is taken over by the Campaign Visibility Area, also known as the "free speech zone" -- the only area where ralliers are allowed to demonstrate or display signs. Also surrounding the Green will be several television network satellite trucks, many of which arrived Tuesday, and the news program "MSNBC Hardball with Chris Matthews," which will run from 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM from the Green. Matthews will also be joining the post-debate discussion hosted by Keith Olbermann, who will broadcast from Secaucus, N.J.
Olbermann and Matthews will be just two of about 300 credentialed media swarming the campus, whicih will also be covered by Secret Service agents and blanked by over 100 student volunteers, as Spaulding Auditorium is transformed into the set of the nationally televised debate.
Director of Dartmouth Media Relations Roland Adams said students can count on noticing the media-fueled commotion.
"Any time we host an event of this magnitude, students and others are going to be aware that we have a lot of visitors here and a lot of them are media," Adams said.
Adams was not concerned about the impact of such an event on campus, noting that Dartmouth has hosted presidential candidate debates many times before, in 1984, 1988 and 2004. The College also hosted a "New Hampshire Town Meeting" held in 1999 that was attended by both Republican and Democratic candidates.
Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone said he was confident that the town would be able to handle the flood of visitors.
"We handle more traffic for Homecoming night when the streets are blocked, so we don't anticipate any problems," Giaccone said.
Hanover Police will also be aided by Safety and Security. College Proctor and head of Safety and Security Harry Kinne noted that the entire Safety and Security staff would be working during the debate and stressed the College security force's collaboration with other safety groups who would be on campus.
"We're working with all the other agencies as a team," Kinne said, adding that Secret Service was "very much part of the team." The details about the whereabouts of Secret Service agents remain confidential and could not be disclosed by spokespersons for the College, Hanover Police or NBC.
"I'm looking forward to [the debate] occurring on schedule and without incident," Kinne added.
MSNBC's lead producer for the debates is Joe Alicastro, who noted that he was hopeful Dartmouth's debate audience would be similar to the recent Democratic debate in South Carolina on July 23.
"There were two million viewers, which is great for cable," Alicastro said.
Besides the debate and the Hardball television program, other stories by broadcast reporters -- both live and taped -- are expected to be shown on television programs on all networks.
The majority of the media present will be located in Alumni Gym and print journalists will be filing their stories from a center in the West Gym. Spin Alley, where journalists and campaign workers go to discuss the debate immediately afterwards, will also be housed in Alumni Gymnasium.
Several locations on campus will also be used for debate purposes before, during and after the event for a number of private receptions and events connected with the debate. Leede Arena will also be playing a large part in the debate when it hosts the Watch Party, which is expected to attract about 2,000 students.
