Uncyclopedia:Featured articles/July 18

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were a series of seven debates held throughout the windswept steppes of Wenatchee during the Senate campaign of 1858. Unlike modern Senate campaigns in Illinois, the candidates were not an al Qaeda operative and a dude from Maryland. Like modern campaigns however the candidates were a corrupt Democrat from Chicago running against an inept Republican from downstate. The campaign also differed from today in that the average voter actually gave a rat's ass about the election. The candidates were James "Buster" Douglas, former World Heavy Weight Champion of Debating, and backwoods hick Abraham Lincoln. While Douglas won the election, the national attention would aid in Lincoln's bid for President two years later.

The debates were held in the seven major college towns of Illinois: Bloomington, Charleston, Chicago, Dekalb, Macomb, Ottawa, and Urbana. The sites were selected for the proximity of bars and hot coeds, politicians being politicians even in the 1850s. (Full article...)