With such a short time before the election, apparently even third-party candidates are prone to last-minute cancellations. The CPU-sponsored debate between Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, and Chuck Baldwin that was scheduled for Sunday evening in Lerner has been cancelled.

In an email sent a short awhile ago, CPU Communications Director Lauren Salz wrote, "Due to circumstances beyond our control, several of the candidates decided not to participate in the debate at the last minute." No word on which candidates spoiled the party first.

CPU's next big event will be an appearance by Nebraska Republican Chuck Hagel, next Friday at 2:45 p.m. in Lerner Cinema. The full cancellation announcement is after the jump.

CPU has released ticketing information for the Columbia-hosted Presidential Debate that will include Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney and Chuck Baldwin. There will be 275 of the 400 seats reserved for CUID holders and you can get them either here or at the Lerner Lobby. The debate is this Sunday, 8 p.m. in 417 IAB. Full email from CPU is after the jump.

After the extravaganza that was the Obamacain ServiceNation Forum, other presidential candidates apparently could not help but get in on the action. According to McClatchy, three third-party candidates will be debating at Columbia this Sunday. Ralph Nader (independent), Cynthia McKinney (Green), and Chuck Baldwin (Constitution) will all participate in a debate moderated by Amy Goodman of Pacifica Radio.

Libertarians will be disappointed to learn that nominee Bob Barr will not be participating. According to McClatchy, "Barr said he has a scheduling conflict, but debate organizers say he wanted to appear only with Nader."

The debate will be carried on C-SPAN and www.thirdpartyticket.org.

UPDATE (7:55 PM): The debate is being sponsored by CPU, and will take place in 417IAB at 8 p.m. As for tickets, CPU Communications Director Lauren Salz tells Bwog that CPU is "making every effort to reserve as many seats as possible for CUID holders. Registration details will be announced as soon as possible, probably sometime tomorrow."

Bwog headed to Roone Cinema this evening ready for our daily dose of lively intellectual discourse, today's source being the first of three debates between the College Democrats and Republicans on issues pertinent to the upcoming election. We settled into our cushy seat surrounded by a vast sea of argyle sweaters and watched the games begin.

Tonight's debate, hosted by the CPU, focused on foreign policy and energy solutions. Each side was told to stick to their respective party platforms, even if their personal views differed. The Dems kicked off the night, using their precious 120 allotted seconds to discuss the various failings they found with the Bush Administration, calling the War in Iraq "stupid" and explaining the economic policies of the Administration as forming a collective "wrecking ball to the economy."

The CPU and College Dems are co-sponsoring an event in which Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) will be speaking this Sunday at 4 PM in Lerner Cinema.

She's going to talk about her legislative goals and the like, plus there will be a Q&A to follow.

With the dual force of Obamacain four days from striking campus, student groups and councils are scrambling to inject themselves into the festivities. On Saturday, representatives from almost every governing council, as well as CPU, the College Democrats, and the College Republicans, met to plan programming for the run-up. They plan to send their outline to Columbia administration tomorrow morning.

The plan consists of two parts: speakers and service opportunites. Highlights will apparently include a voter registration drive led by CPU, the Dems, and the Republicans. Governing boards and individual community service groups will also put on a "service fair," highlighting service opportunities on campus. Finally, there will be a canned food drive led by the four student councils.

As for speakers, the ad-hoc coalition plans to bring in live speakers from 6-7 P.M., before the beginning of the forum. The speakers will focus on both service and September 11th. The pre-forum programming will close with a moment of silence for 9/11 victims. The councils hope to get a famous speaker (possibly a celebrity like Angelina Jolie) as part of the program. Bwog will bring you more specifics and reaction as they come in.

UPDATE 11:31 PM: The full plan to be presented to the deans is below the jump

O Fortuna, ye who spins your wheel to decide the fate of those who would seek the highest office in the land. And o mainstream media, ye whose color-coordinated interactive maps and expertly crafted graphics enrapture the most Butler-weary soul.

As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday night, the Lerner piano lounge was filled with nearly 100 students who arrived in their political finest (suit jackets and tucked-in casual wear) to bear witness to the spectacle of Super Tuesday. Sponsored by the Columbia Political Union, along with the Dems and the Republicans, the event brought out supporters of Obama, Clinton, and, apparently, Romney, who camped out like teenage girls waiting for Backstreet Boys tickets circa 1999 to see which candidate would sweep nearly half the states in the union.

We love the Columbia Political Union, we really do--but would it have killed them to have made their election guide read a little less like an obituary? It is comprehensive; all the candidates are there, in sensible Times New Roman--even Mike "Who do you want to nuke?" Gravel has his own page. The Columbia Dems and Republicans got their obligatory space up front, in which the Dems urged us all to "think deeply" about the candidates and the GOP, in an essay entitled "Why you should vote Republican in 2008," didn't even try to convince us. The Columbia Libertarians, who've gotten the better press of both of them, were conspicuously absent.

Nonetheless, there is a place in the world for blandness. We have no doubt that the CPU at least takes its objectivity seriously, and that they must have learned a lot putting this together. The FEC, we've heard, has decent job security.

- LBD

And raising the drawbridge.

...which obviates this post, in which College Republicans Director of Operations Lauren Steinberg admits: "Personally, I really hope he's not coming. I mean, it was a fun time last year, but I don't need it to happen again."

Agreed!

We like blogs. Apparently, other people like them too. In its incessant web surfing, Bwog came across a couple new kids on the block:

Editor Josh - Ever wanted to know what Spec news editors think about constantly, unceasingly, all day every day? One of them has started a blog to give a little more back story behind the headlines, and it's actually really interesting. And he has the same geeky interest in CCSC that we do, so hurray for trivia.

Hash Browns...and Toast! - We know these kids, and are respecting their wish to remain anonymous. Probably a good thing, because you might look at them oddly if you knew their true identities.

And, coming soon...

The Eye blogs! We've been hearing that several of the top editors at The Eye have been given their very own web platforms, which may or may not launch tomorrow. Hope that goes well for them, considering that it's hard enough to provide content for a weekly magazine that also competes with a daily arts section.

Columbia Political Union blogs - Still in development, but promise to be rollicking good entertainment, since we've been told that they'll include several top campus political leaders (three guesses). Hey, if they can do it, why not Pelosi and Bush?

- LBD

Item! Last night, the Dems and CPU hosted a dinner with leaders of campus political groups in the James Room of Barnard Hall to "foster intergroup cooperation." Bwog's request to attend was politely denied, but organizers graciously provided the list of those in attendance: besides the Dems and CPU, representatives from the College Libertarians, LionPAC, Students United For America, Earthco, Working Families Party, Amnesty, Pro-Israel Progressives, Students for Choice, and CQA all showed up for free food provided by the Kraft fund. The College Republicans and C4 declined to participate. (OK, to be fair, so did SEEJ, the ISO, Catholics for Life and the ACLU--none of which are major political parties).

Update, 6:22 PM: According to a person in attendance at the event, the College Republicans refused to come because the ISO had been invited, and both the ISO and SEEJ couldn't come because of scheduling conflicts. Also, a clarification: the ISO is an ABC group, not an SGB group.

Item! They may or may not have discussed their governing board's move from Earl Hall to SDA Student Affairs, which has provoked fears that Dean Colombo and Robert Taylor might not be able to keep their hands out of planned event content (or at least more so than student favorite Chaplain Davis, who has held student dinners in her own apartment). People in the know say the administration hasn't told them why SGB has to move, but to one anonymous CCSC source, the reason is clear: there need to be more layers of bureaucracy to insulate PrezBo from shitstorms like the Minuteman fiasco. While the Chaplain reports directly to Provost Brinkley, under Student Affairs, there are more administrators between students and top brass than Bwog wants to even think about. No more gravy for you, SGB!

Item! We said yesterday that the Dems don't pull off political stunts like the Republicans. They may prove us wrong on Thursday, when the Activist Council plans to hold a "Global Warming Bash," in which kids in Bush masks will thwack an earth-shaped pinata. In an earlier e-mail, members were encouraged to "dress like Republicans" for the event. Bwog wonders what that means, exactly: Uncle Moneybags? Scrooge McDuck? Stay tuned...