At 11:46 AM 9/29/2004 -0400, Dr. Joe Dumas wrote:
>For those of you seeking an alternative to the predictable Bush/Kerry
>snooze-fest tomorrow night, you might want to log on to the Net to watch the
>only wide-open, no-holds-barred, unscripted debate happening anywhere in
>America
>(actually, right down the street from the "joint press conference" being
>held by
>the Democrats and Republicans).
>
>On-line coverage will begin at 4:    30p.m.tomorrowonwww.freemarketnews.zl6
>
>Michael Badnarik (L) and David Cobb (G) are confirmed participants in the
>"People's Debate".  Michael Peroutka (C) and Ralph Nader (I) have been invited
>but have not indicated whether they will be present.  Whether there are two,
>three, or four candidates on the stage, there are sure to be substantive
>disagreements on policy and probably some face to face exchanges (unlike the
>other "debate" where Kerry and Bush are forbidden to address each other
>directly).  And the third-party candidates will have to be on their toes ...
>unscripted, uncensored questions from the audience will not only be
>allowed, but
>encouraged.
>
>An opening statement will be made by John Anderson, the 1980 Independent
>candidate who received six million votes for President.
>
>Please pass this message along to your students, who probably already get most
>of their news and political information from the Internet.
>
>Details follow:
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
>
>PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES BADNARIK & COBB TO DEBATE IN MIAMI
>
>The Open Format Debate featuring the Libertarian & Green Party candidates will
>be a stark contrast to the other Miami "debate"
>
>MIAMI - Michael Badnarik and David Cobb, the presidential candidates from the
>Libertarian and Green parties, will take questions from media, students
>and the
>public in an open forum the night of - and just feet from - the first
>televised
>"debate" between the two-party candidates.
>
>The debate will take place on Thursday, September 30, at 5 p.m., at the
>Holiday
>Inn Ballroom, 1350 S. Dixie Highway, in Coral Gables. Pacifica Radio will
>interview audience members and debate participants following the two hour
>debate. From 9 p.m. until 10:30, the candidates and audience will watch a live
>broadcast of the restricted, two-party debate after which Badnarik and
>Cobb will
>offer their rebuttals.
>
>Independent candidate Ralph Nader, who has been invited to participate in the
>open format debate, has not yet accepted the invitation.
>
>Unlike the scripted and staged exchange between the two-party candidates which
>will take place directly across Dixie Highway from the Holiday Inn
>Ballroom, the
>open format debate will allow for uncensored questions from the public and
>students and will represent a wide range of viewpoints on the critical issues
>facing our country.
>
>Two non-partisan student organizations, the University of Miami's Council for
>Democracy and the Miami-Dade College Student Senate, are sponsoring the
>unrestricted, open format debate along with the Center for Voting and
>Democracy,
>a nonprofit, non-partisan Maryland-based organization. John Anderson, the
>former
>Republican congressman and independent presidential candidate who is the chair
>of the Center for Voting and Democracy, will present an opening statement
>prior
>to the debate.
>
>Admission to the debate is $5 for students and $10 for the general public.
>
>"This open debate will provide students in South Florida and throughout the
>nation an unparalleled opportunity to realize the richness, substance and
>diversity of American discourse outside the two-party monopoly," said Edward
>Martos, President of the Council for Democracy, a non-partisan student
>organization dedicated to raising political awareness.

I do not know if either is a debate, in the true sense of the word, knowing
what debates were when I covered the debating team for my High school
newspaper.


Harold A. Climer
Dept. Of Physics, Geology, and Astronomy
Room 318 Grote Hall
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Ave
423-425-4546