The proposed Baldwin-McKinney-Nader debate that had been planned for Sunday evening, October 19, is very unlikely to happen. It seems that none of the candidates who were originally invited (including Bob Barr, and on a theoretical basis, the major party nominees) had really committed and really wanted to participate. McKinney and Baldwin have both expressed displeasure that communications between their campaigns and the debate organizers were not clear. Nader seems to have concluded that he will only debate with Barr (except, obviously, he would also debate with the two major party candidates).

It is still conceivable that a Barr-Nader debate will be organized.

Although the Green Party did not win any seats in Canada’s Parliament earlier this week, it polled 6.8% of the national popular vote. The parties that did win seats polled this share of the popular vote: Conservative 37.6%, Liberal 26.2%, New Democratic 18.2%, Bloc Quebecois 10.0%. Independents and other parties polled 1.2%. For more about the results, see here. Click on the “Launch Interactive Map” to see an interesting map that shows which party won each district. Thanks to Sam Harley for the link.

The New York Times, October 16, has a medium-sized article about the Free & Equal Presidential Debate set for October 19. The title of the article, which is at the top of page A20, is “A Third-Party Forum.” Most surprisingly, the article includes photos of each of the four invited presidential candidates. They are, of course, Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney, and Chuck Baldwin. This is surely the first time the New York Times has ever run a picture of a Constitution Party presidential nominee.