rEVOLution site BreakTheMatrix.com (BtM) announced Sep. 24 that “We’re holding a live debate to be immediately followed by a four way money bomb during the first week of October.” On the same day, a website, ThirdPartyTicket.com (TPT), was launched to promote the event.

BtM is a partnership of libertarians, and Ron Paul supporters, Trevor Lyman and Rick Williams. Lyman organized the November 5 and December 16, 2007, money bombs which raised over $10 million for Paul's presidential campaign, setting new one-day fundraising records.

TPT reports that the debate will be held in New York City in early October. The target date is Oct. 8, although a firm date will be announced later. “All of the major party candidates will be invited to participate” – presumably, the six candidates listed on the TPT home page:

Constitution Party Candidate: Chuck Baldwin

Democratic Party Candidate: Barack Obama

Green Party Candidate: Cynthia McKinney

Independent Candidate: Ralph Nader

Libertarian Party Candidate: Bob Barr

Republican Party Candidate: John McCain

There is no word as yet on which candidates have accepted. (The expectation is that Obama and McCain, who have contracted with the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) for a series of three exclusive presidential debates, will not participate.)

Two days ago I reported that Nader had let out that a third-party debate was “set to take place” in the coming weeks. I believe this TPT debate is the event he was referring to.

UPDATE, Sep. 29: The Nader campaign endorsed TPT on Sep. 27. Oct. 2: The Baldwin campaign joined up on Sep. 30.

The debate will be broadcast on the Internet by BtM “and many others (details to come).”

Simultaneous with the debate, TPT will also hold a money bomb for the participating candidates. That will not be a winner-take-all, as previously planned and reported. Instead, TPT “will launch a money bomb for each of the candidates. Contributions will be made directly to the candidates via their respective websites. ThirdPartyTicket.com will report the totals of all the candidates in one location as the moneybomb proceeds.” Adds the site: “If a significant amount of funds are raised for one or more candidates the mainstream media will take notice!”

Besides BtM, the initial sponsors include OpenDebates.org and FreeandEqual.org, with “Many more to come!”

Open Debates “is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to reforming the presidential debate process” supported by over 60 supporting organizations. It calls for replacing the bipartisan CPD with the non-partisan Citizens' Debate Commission — the group which will presumably run the TPT debate.

I enthusiastically support this idea, with three reservations. First, I do not think that an internet-only broadcast will generate enough interest to fundamentally change the dynamics of this election. Network television coverage looks absolutely essential. I hope that can be added as the planning develops.

C-SPAN televised an Oct. 6, 2004 debate between presidential candidates Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party, Michael Peroutka of the Constitution Party, David Cobb of the Green Party and Walt Brown of the Socialist Party — a bunch of relative unknowns. This year's candidates all have higher public and media profiles. Nader is the country's best-known consumer advocate, and even has his own verb. Barr and McKinney are both former Congressmen. Baldwin, though less well known, received a huge boost in popularity this week with Ron Paul's endorsement. I expect C-SPAN, at least, to be televising the 2008 debate.

Second, I am worried about the relatively short lead time: just two weeks from website launch to target date. However, Lyman has worked under tight deadlines before; his November 2007 money bomb, which raised over $4 million for Paul's presidential campaign, was organized in just three weeks.

Third, I am concerned with the low participation level so far. TPT is aiming for 10,000 sponsors for the money bomb; they have less than 1,000 to date. That is mainly, I suspect, because relatively few people have heard of it. Open Debates has not yet begun promoting the event; nor have I seen it promoted on any of the candidates' websites.

I would urge all supporters of all of the above candidates: please contact your campaign, tell them about the TPT debate, urge them to attend, and ask them to have it promoted on their campaign and party websites.

Similarly, if you are a member of Open Debates or any of the more than 60 groups on its List of Supporters, please contact your organization and urge it to get with the program.

For my part, I will be writing to websites and blogs that have written about third parties and the debates, plugging my article but also asking them to promote the debate. Of course, I won't reach everyone; so I would urge other readers to promote the TPT debate at the sites, blogs, and groups they read.

Free and Equal gives a list of other “Easy things you can do to promote www.ThirdPartyTicket.com (thank you!)”:

For Social News:

Please Digg this event here: http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Open_the_Presidential_Debates_or_we_will/ Please Reddit this event here: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/73kah/open_the_presidential_debates_or_we_will/ Please Stumble this event here: http://www.ThirdPartyTicket.com

On Facebook:

please join this cause : http://www.facebook.com/causes/119170 (must be logged in to see cause) then invite 24 friends (you'll see the prompt to invite friends) feature the cause on your facebook profile

On MySpace:

Add this profile as a friend: http://www.myspace.com/thirdpartyticket Place this profile in your top friends list Please visit http://www.thirdpartyticket.com/promote.php and copy the code next to the banner you like best. Then place the banner code into your myspace profile. Paste same banner code in a bulletin and post it.

Personal promotion:

Please forward this [news] to your friends and family!

Time is short, and there is much to do. The challenges are enormous, but so is the potential. This event could change the outcome of the U.S. presidential election — and if it changes that outcome, it changes the world.

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UPDATE, Oct. 13:

The debate will be held Sunday, Oct. 19, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm EST. Please read:

//www.nolanchart.com/article5198.html

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