In just over three weeks Senators Barack Obama and John McCain will face off in their first debate at the University of Mississippi. None of the third party candidates have been invited to participate. Silenced will be the voices of Libertarian Bob Barr, independent Ralph Nader, the Green’s Cynthia McKinney, and others. Tonight Ralph Nader will be holding a rally in Minneapolis calling for the debates to be opened.

Bob Barr has also called for the debates to include more than just the Democratic and Republican candidates. A recent Zogby poll found 50 of voters nationwide want both Barr and Nader to participate in the debates. Today Bob Barr joins me here in our St. Paul studio.

A decade ago Bob Barr was serving as a Republican Congressman from Georgia and led the Republican drive to impeach President Bill Clinton. Since then Bob Barr has become a vocal critic of the Republican Party, the war in Iraq and the erosion of civil liberties. In 2006 Barr left the GOP to join the Libertarian Party. In May he was elected as the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee.

Bob Barr, presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party. He is a former Republican who served as a Congressman representing Georgia from 1995 to 2003.

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