What would he think if he went to a nightclub at midnight Saturday for drinks and an intense discussion on the relative merits of John McCain versus Barack Obama broke out?

That was the experience of some people at the 54 West lounge in Durham on Saturday night.

Oh, the booze flowed as it would have at the Kit-Kat Club, and dudes stood around trying to look hard while the women struck alluring poses.

But instead of exchanging phone numbers, they exchanged ideas.

For that night, as it has once every six weeks for the past year or so, the 54 West lounge hosts a debate society in which men and women discuss provocative topics with varying degrees of civility.

For instance, when one dude bravely but foolishly said too many women use the child support payments provided by men to get their hair and nails done, it appeared he was going to need an escort to escape the lounge.

Or when a man and a woman with the microphone called homosexuality an abomination and wondered how to keep their children from being exposed to it, a woman who identified herself as gay got into a back-and-forth with them. Good thing they were on opposite sides of the club.

LeVar Johnson, one of the two moderators of the discussions and topics, said he got the idea for the unusual club two years ago.

"I had some people over at my house on Labor Day," he said. "They came early, and at midnight people were still sitting around talking. ... They weren't just talking about basketball and sex. It was intellectual stuff. Nobody wanted to go home."

Johnson, a medical device representative, said he wants to replicate what happened in his backyard. He calls the show, which is co-hosted by his friend, Derrick Avent, the Speakeasy Show.

"When we first started, it was a sort of traveling show. We had it at different spots," he said.

If the idea's popularity continues growing, he said, he'll need another spot. "The first one, we had 34 people. Last Saturday night, we had 300-plus. ... The one thing all of those people had in common was that they all had an opinion."

He is right, and few were shy about expressing them. The comments were often heated, provocative, and only occasionally vulgar.

Johnson said he has been contacted by most of the Triangle's colleges and universities about holding his forum on their campuses, as well as by people in Charlotte who promise to triple the size of his crowd.

He called that "a double-edged sword. ... How can we moderate a crowd that big? ... I do want more diversity. There were a few whites in the crowd, but some of these issues are universal. White men pay child support, too."

Debating issues that often split along gender lines doesn't seem like the ideal way to spark romance afterward, when the mikes are put away, does it?

Johnson thinks it is. "You've got a way to pitch your own personal ad right there," he said, noting that many speakers preface their remarks by touting their marital status and education.

"People can see how well or how poorly you express yourself. It's a beautiful way to meet beautiful people."

You can hear the show on the first Friday of each month on WAUG 750 AM or you can visit www.myspace.com/justspeakeasy1.

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