An Alternative Presidential Candidates' Debate will be held in Nashville from 7 to 9 pm on October 6th, one day prior to the McCain-Obama debate in Nashville. The debate is open to all third party candidates for President in the United States as well as the major party nominees.

The debate is being organized by the Coalition for October Debate Alternatives (CODA), the Nashville Peace Coalition, and Vanderbilt Students of Nonviolence. The moderator for the event will be Bruce Barry, a professor at the Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt. The debate will be held in room 4309 Stevenson Center, on the campus of Vanderbilt University; it is free and open to the public and the news media. Maps and driving directions can be found on another page (LINK).

In a recent release to the press CODA indicated that is was organizing the alternative debate because it believed that voters deserve to hear from all the candidates if they are going to make an informed choice at the ballot box, " While we want to hear what the major party candidates have to say on issues related to the war, health care, the economy, gas prices, the future direction of the military, civil liberties and the environment, we do not believe that most issues of concern to American voters will be touched by the Democrat-Republican debate. That is why we are organizing an alternative debate so that voters in Nashville, Tennessee and beyond may be informed of all their choices as they participate in America's electoral process."

Chris Lugo, one of the organizers, said that the Democratic and Republican candidates have also been invited to the event, but have not indicated an interest in attending, "We believe that voters should make a fully informed choice about who they vote for and we do not believe this is possible if they are only hearing from two candidates. We have invited Barack Obama and John McCain in the interest of fairness, but we are intending to highlight this alternative debate as the most egalitarian possible event by including all the candidates and promoting this as an event to which everyone is invited."

The following candidates or representatives have already accepted invitations to speak:

(Watch this space -- we are still hoping for one or two more acceptances.) Additional information about these candidates is given on another page.