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would be likely to bone up, and it is obvious they did just that.
Thus, unless the viewer was a political buff or a strong supporter—or relative—of one of the candidates, the event was, in a word, boring.
It should not have been like that, and it did not have to be.
Political debates, properly presented, afford the public its best opportunity to see candidates for office perform under fire, think on their feet and demonstrate the ability to formulate (as opposed to memorize) logical answers to difficult and even tricky questions.
But this cannot be done unless the candidates are challenged in an adversarial situation to defend their positions and justify their approaches to public issues. Obviously when the questioners are members of the press, or the panel is otherwise impartial, the questions are not going to be adversarial and probably not very challenging. Indeed, such panels bend every effort to be evenhanded in dealing with the candidates.
So what should be done?
The answer is not complicated. Instead of having impartial panels quiz the debaters, let them question each other in a
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