Mesa Presidential Debate pushed back to Feb 22

It was announced yesterday that the Presidential Debate to be held at the Mesa Arts Center has been moved from November 30th to February 22nd.  At this point, it is not clear on how big of an impact it will have in putting Arizona's issues on the national stage. 

On the bright side, this gets the Mesa debate out of the mass of debates that has created a bit of fatigue out there.  On the disappointing side, many Arizona voters will have already voted by early ballot by the time the debate takes place.

Based on the back and forth nature of the race so far, this debate has the potential to be incredibly important - taking place two weeks prior to "Super Tuesday" which happens on March 6th (see the schedule).  The ideal scenario is that the debate could come down to two (or potentially three) candidates who have split the Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida primaries and are going head to head to build momentum coming out of Arizona and into Super Tuesday.

There is a slight possibility that the race has already been determined by February 22nd.  If that's the case, this move would be a disappointment but would still put be a great opportunity to showcase the Mesa Arts Center and what else Mesa has to offer.