s Boston prepares to host the first presidential debate, the city will be awash in politics with scores of election-related events, offering public officials, scholars, and writers the chance to air their thoughts about this year's national contest as well as Tuesday night's Bush-Gore encounter at the University of Massachusetts.
Thousands of Ralph Nader supporters are expected to attend a rally this afternoon, demanding that the Green Party candidate be included in upcoming presidential debates.
Nader, who has earned a spot on the ballot in 44 states, will appear at the FleetCenter, along with historian Howard Zinn and filmmaker Michael Moore.
Recent Nader rallies in Seattle, Minneapolis, and Portland, Ore., have drawn crowds of more than 10,000. Today's rally begins at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10.
Recently retired veteran journalist Helen Thomas will discuss the four decades she spent covering the White House during a speech this afternoon.
Thomas, the former dean of the White House press corps, began reporting on President John F. Kennedy in 1960 and has covered eight US presidents. Thomas's discussion will begin at 2 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy Library and is open to the public.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino will bring together a panel of seasoned political journalists to discuss the best and worst moments of the 2000 presidential campaign tomorrow at Faneuil Hall.
Reporters from The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, and the Boston Herald will participate in the event, which will begin at 6 p.m.
Governor Paul Cellucci is sponsoring a media party tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the State House for members of the press who are covering the debate.
Former governor Michael Dukakis and former vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp will sound off about the changing role of debates in presidential campaigns and make predictions about Tuesday night's meeting between Al Gore and George W. Bush during a discussion at the Kennedy Library tomorrow.
Washington Post columnist David Broder will lead the panel, which will also include former Kennedy speechwriter Ted Sorenson and former Nixon aide Herb Klein. The event begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the public.
Amid the partisan frenzy that will engulf Boston Tuesday, there will be some interesting bipartisan cooperation at No. 9 Park, a Beacon Hill restaurant.
Former US representative Chester Atkins, a Concord Democrat, and GOP strategist Ray Howell are, along with WordsWorth Books, sponsoring a discussion on campaign finance; the featured speaker will be Jeff Birnbaum, the Fortune magazine Washington bureau chief who has written a book, ''The Money Men.'' Also speaking will be Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift and Democratic fundraiser Alan Solomont. The talk starts at noon.
Predebate commentary will begin at the UMass-Boston's Lipke Auditorium at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Mickey Edwards, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma who now teaches at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, will join his wife, Elizabeth Sherman, director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, in discussing what issues would be addressed during the debate.
Also, state House Speaker Thomas Finneran, who has been besieged with requests for debate tickets, is setting up his own event in Dorchester. Finneran has rented the Phillips Old Colony House on Morrissey Boulevard for a party that starts at 7:30 p.m. Television monitors have been set up for viewing the debate.
