vice presidential debate ===
On Thursday, October 5, 2000, Centre College hosted the vice presidential debate, becoming the smallest college in the smallest town ever to serve as a host site for a general election debate. Dubbed "The Thrill in the Ville", the debate between Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman took place in the college's Norton Center for the Arts. The event was a tremendous success, being heralded by former CBS news anchor Dan Rather as "the best vice presidential debate ever held." After the 2000 debate concluded, Janet Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said that "Centre has set the standard by which future debates will be judged."
=== 2012 vice presidential debate ===
Twelve years after hosting its first debate, Centre College again hosted a vice presidential debate on October 11, 2012. The debate between vice presidential incumbent Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan, with moderator Martha Raddatz, was called "one of the most engaging, enlightening, and entertaining …