DEMS PLAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE AT CONFEDERATE LANDMARK; THEATER NAMED AFTER PRO-SLAVERY SECESSIONIST
**Exclusive**
The nine candidates jockeying for the Democratic presidential nomination '04 are planning to hold the season's fist televised debate in South Carolina next week-- at a theater named after a staunch secessionist who strongly advocated for slavery!
Having raised the issue of the Confederate Flag flying over the state house, Democrats now find themselves on the verge of political firestorm over the debate's planned location -- and its symbolic heritage.
"The debate will be held Saturday night, May 3, from 8:30-10:00 pm EDT at the Longstreet Theater," the South Carolina Democratic Party has announced.
The Longstreet Theater�s namesake, Augustus B. Longstreet, held strong views on the right to own slaves, research shows.
"Abolitionism seemed to him hypocrisy and blasphemy and as a minister of Christ he could not hold fellowship with those who rejected the Master�s word." (�Main Currents In American Thought,� Volume II, 1800-1860, 1927).
Longstreet became president of South Carolina College at a time when he was a staunch secessionist. His rigorous support of secession caused a fervor which led the student body to enlist en masse when the Civil War began.
In defense of slavery, Longstreet argued as a minister. The right to hold slaves was determined exclusively by the authority of the Bible, he believed.
ABC News will host the debate, featuring: Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, Governor Howard Dean, Senator John Edwards, Congressman Dick Gephardt, Senator Bob Graham, Senator John Kerry, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Senator Joseph Lieberman and Reverend Al Sharpton.
The event will be moderated by ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, who plans to originate a live broadcast of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" the following morning from the same history-filled location.
Developing...
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