Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker will be on campus today to speak on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.
Whitaker, who won the award for his 2006 performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland," and his wife, Keisha, will speak in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom during a UF Students for Barack Obama event.
The couple will stay afterward to watch the first presidential debate between Obama and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, said Eric Conrad, one of the event's organizers.
The event is free and open to the public, Conrad said.
Doors open at 7:45 p.m. and Whitaker will speak sometime before 9 p.m. when the debate is scheduled to start.
Even if the debate is called off, as some reports have suggested, today's event at the Reitz Union will go on as planned, Conrad said.
Whitaker and his wife are touring Florida as part of a voter registration drive. The Change We Need drive, which started today in Jacksonville, includes stops in Lakeland, Orlando and Tampa this weekend.
Conrad said his appearance was provided free of charge by Obama's campaign.
