Well, at the very least you have to give the campaign of Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr some points for effort. It's almost certain to come to naught, but Barr's campaign has taken advantage of John McCain's suspension of his campaign and asked that Barr get McCain's spot at the presidential debate scheduled for Friday.

"For the past several elections, candidates have used the [Commission on Presidential Debates, the organization responsible for organizing debates] as an official buffer to keep competition out of the two-party presidential contest," Barr said in a statement. "McCain publicly proved with his announcement what we've been saying all along: The candidates call the shots as to when to debate, where to debate and who to debate. Given Senator McCain's political stunt to avoid the debate, I ask that Friday's debate moves forward without him, as I am more than willing to step in to participate."

Barr's campaign manager has sent letters to the CPD and to Barack Obama's campaign asking that the former congressman be allowed to debate.