The Dashboard project is meant to give Drupal developers an easy way to implement 2 column layouts of nodes that aren't the sidebars.
Right now, Drupal has a hard time doing this, and it's something I've seen a lot of call for. This module is not a good final solution, but I think it's a good interrim solution for many users.
For a live example of the module in use, please check out AssignBlame.