For those of you not from New York, Cooper Union was founded by the industrialist Peter Cooper, a man who helped to create the legend of the American Dream, a man who had a strong sense of giving back to his community, a man who founded a tuition-free college to offer a path to that dream.

The college has had many special moments in history. Perhaps the most important remains the speech given by Abraham Lincoln that propelled him to the presidency in 1860. That speech is the model for this series. Lincoln didn't give another speech for many months after that -- unheard of in modern American politics. Instead, his speech was reprinted and spread across the nation.

The goal of the Cooper series is to ensure that politics does not become a 30-second sound bite but rather a serious discourse to inspire people everywhere.

For all of John Fout's coverage of the 2008 campaign, visit TheStreet.com Politics Blog.