We dispatched Daniel Belkin, Dartmouth senior and opinion columnist for the Dartmouth to give us a rundown on the school's furious preparations for tonight's debate. Stay tuned for his report on the event itself.

The mean streets of Hanover, New Hampshire seldom produce headlines that garner the attention of the world outside the confines of the White Mountains. Stories that chronicle squirrel infestations or scandals at the local Chinese restaurant (personally and affectionately deemed "Pandagate") are the ones that paint the broadsheets and tabloids of the Upper Valley of New Hampshire. But all that ends for at least today.

The gang of loveable losers vying for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination are rolling into Dartmouth for a nationally-televised debate as the eight aspiring chief executives continue their horserace to inherit the utter and complete mess that President Bush has left his screwed successor. Both MSNBC and New England Cable News are co-sponsoring the much anticipated verbal jousting match, airing live Wednesday night from 9pm to 11pm. And despite being in notoriously frigid New Hampshire, no disgruntled snowmen will be grilling the candidates - à la the infamous YouTube/CNN debate. MSNBC has called in the big guns of political journalism to referee the bout: Tim Russert, the moderator of NBC's Sunday morning staple Meet the Press. Suck on that, Anderson Cooper.

After the jump: The awful truth about Dennis Kucinich.

Along with the candidates themselves, hordes of campaign staffers, national and international media, phalanxes of Secret Service agents, and thousands of cheering well-wishers have descended upon this quaint small New England town of just 11,000 residents, a few traffic lights, and one CVS Pharmacy.

Of course, being ephemeral residents of the Granite State - which proudly boasts the first presidential primary in the Union - Dartmouth students are well-accustomed to the comings and goings of pandering politicians on campus. Last Memorial Day, thousands and thousands flocked to see the anointed savior of American politics, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, speak at the College while former Senator John Edwards and the junior Senator from New York, Hillary Clinton, have held on campus town hall meetings to great fanfare. Kids at the Big Green even rumored to have seen dark horse presidential aspirant Congressman Dennis Kucinich noshing on tofu and soy milk in Thayer dining hall along with a handful of stoned Ultimate Frisbee players.

Over 3,800 Dartmouth students, faculty, staffers, and community members entered a lottery to win one of the 200 available tickets for the prized event. At a 1 in 19 chance of winning a Golden Ticket to the debate, funnily enough, College students enjoyed a much better chance of gaining admittance to Dartmouth itself than receiving coveted seats in Spaulding Auditorium Wednesday night. With odds like that, no wonder there has been no scalping or price gouging on eBay. As a consolation prize, 2,000 of the unlucky majority will take in the debate a few hundred yards from the stage at the official Watch Party in the College gymnasium. The candidates are slated to grace these students in the spillover location with their presence at the end of the evening.

Ticket or not, all students are eager to take advantage of the circus that will ensue on Wednesday as a smorgasbord of events are playing out across campus all day long, right up until the curtail rises at 9pm for the Big Show. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, neighboring Vermont's Third Favorite Son (Ben & Jerry being first and second, respectively) will be here rallying the troops while under the omnipresent watchful eye of the media, the competing campaigns will simultaneously gather their loyal forces of young followers on the College Green to show their support to the rest of the world. This in all has the trappings to quickly devolve into a West Side Story-style rumble. All the while, MSNBC's Chris Matthews will broadcast his popular talkfest, Hardball, live from the center of campus for both pre and post-debate analysis.

Hanover has become the Mecca of U.S. politics. And it will get interesting. Stay tuned.

--DANIEL BELKIN