By Colleen O'Connor

San Diego should hurry before Harvard University books it.

What better way to honor the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote?

Or to celebrate the two undisputed first-place winners in the recent Democratic Presidential debates—Senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren?

What better way to honor our prestigious local universities?

And how historically appropriate.

In 1988, UC San Diego named its fifth college after the former First Lady, United Nations ambassador and chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights: Eleanor Roosevelt.

The dedication speaker in 1995 for the overflow audience in the RIMAC Arena was then First Lady and a future New York Senator, and Democratic nominee for President: Hillary Clinton.

Well before that, in 1970, San Diego State University became the first university in the nation to launch a Women’s Studies program.

Both are stellar universities that made forward-thinking decisions.

So, perhaps we can skip the doldrums of summer and the tedium of another six debates with two dozen or more Democratic candidates and jump to the finale. Or at least a great curtain raiser for 2020.

Warren versus Harris. Both Senators. Both highly educated. Both experienced and full of plans, ideas and personal histories that resonate among the electorate. Both crowd-pleasing speakers.

One Senator is from the West Coast, the other from the East Coast. Together they represent the greatest population concentration in the United States

And how appropriate that the Democratic party currently commands the greatest allegiance among a majority of women. Among registered voters, 56% of women affiliate with or lean toward the Democratic Party, compared with 44% of men. That gender divide is increasing annually.

Plus, every political pollster, statistician, and odds maker notes that not just white women, but women of color, will constitute the deciding factor in the 2020 elections.

So what a barn burner of a debate this could be.

Souvenirs come to mind: T-shirts, baseball caps and sweatshirts, all with campaign logos.

President Trump will surely live-tweet the entire program. In fact, he will probably start a tweet storm well before the event.

This could drive more tourism dollars to the city. Hotels will fill up. Treks to the border will abound.

And the fabulous footage of San Diego’s ocean, bay, Torrey Pines golf course and Balboa Park will bring even more visitors to town next winter.

Think about it: 17 million people watched the Thursday night debate. San Diego can surely top that. What does Miami have over San Diego?

US San Diego and SDSU scored big in women’s history.  They can do so again.

Book the debate. Quick—before Harvard reads this.

Colleen O’Connor is a native San Diegan and a retired college professor.

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