Visitors to the HereAndNow Web site Tuesday morning found themselves reading about “Government Of, By, And For The People … Not Monied Interests.”

And that wasn’t referring to the Associated Student Government, which sponsors the site.

Between 2 and 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, anyone typing in “hereandnow.northwestern.edu” was automatically taken to Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader’s Web site (www.votenader.org).

Former ASG Technology Director Ed Sawma, a Nader supporter, decided to play the prank on students. The McCormick senior said he wanted to prove that the HereAndNow site is more important than students realize.

“We’re willing to do exciting and creative things to make it a great service for the student body,” Sawma said.

To coincide with Tuesday night’s presidential debates, the site read: “Just a friendly debate-day prank from your ex-ASG tech director.”

Medill sophomore Danielle Zielinksi said she received an e-mail named “Cool Prank” through the “Nader at NU” listserv. It told her to visit HereAndNow, but by the time she checked, all she saw was the same old ASG site.