Rebel With A Cause. Shep Smith Heads South No Matter What

Fox News Channel’s Shepard Smith is packing for his home state of Mississippi to anchor coverage of tomorrow night’s presidential debate. A debate that still may not happen.

Smith will anchor on the FOX Broadcasting Network, as he did last night for the President’s address. He’ll also anchor an hour of post-debate analysis as well has his two shows on FNC and he’ll participate in FOXNews.com’s The Strategy Room. “There have never been this many journalists in the state of Mississippi, ever. Why would there be 3,000 journalists in Mississippi?,” Smith tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Smith also talked with his local paper, the Northwest Mississippi Daily Journal about the return home, and what a presidential debate means for his alma mater, Ole Miss, and for the entire state. “People have mostly let go of the past. They’ve (put) our past to museums, where they belong. We don’t have Colonel Reb anymore because it’s divisive. We don’t wave (the Confederate) flag anymore because it’s divisive. We’re a modern, culturally diverse community, and we’re not stuck in our old ways,” Smith said.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.