We've already had a half dozen of these things, haven't we? And there are months to go before anyone casts a ballot?
What exactly happens at these debates to change anything? Unless a candidate lays a tremendous turd, it's all political theater. I stopped watching them years ago and I feel like my understanding of American politics did not suffer a whit.
Town halls are nice, but they can be problematic with so many candidates. Still, having candidates talk to actual people and not cable news blowhards is likely to be an improvement.
Since we have a reality show president, I'd love to have something similar. Something like a foreign policy escape room, where a candidate and a half dozen advisors are presented with a crisis that spins out of control - India/Pakistan for instance - and they have to react. Or maybe an economic crisis. That would be great television and might actually demonstrate how people would govern if we gave them the chance. It would also expose mental insufficiencies in ways that memorizing canned applause lines doesn't.
Whatever, we need better electoral coverage than dueling press conferences masquerading as a "debate."
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