-By Warner Todd Huston

Illinois Democrat Senatorial candidate Alexi "The Mob Banker" Giannoulias has withdrawn from a scheduled debate that was to be held October 21 at the WSIU studios in downstate Carbondale.

Giannoulias said that he was pulling out because the Libertarian candidate, Michael Labano, was not invited to participate.

"It's disappointing, but these things happen in politics," Yepsen said. "The rules we put together were that we would invite any candidate of an established political party. We're not going to change the rules for one candidate." Independent candidates would only be invited to the debate if they had received at least a 5-percent vote in neutral polls, Yepsen said, and no independent candidates met the requirements.

The debate was to include Republican candidate Mark Kirk, Democrat Giannoulias, and Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones.

One wonders what Giannoulias is afraid of. After all, the rules for entry into the debate was known by Giannoulias when he initially accepted the invitation.