A really great article over at NPR about the fact that the so-called debates are nothing of the sort. Connie Rice lists the 10 secrets “they” don’t want “us” to know about the debates.

Rather than reproduce the article here, I’ll just hit a couple of the main points. The biggest problem with presidential debates for the last 20 years is that they aren’t independent in any sense of the word. They are controlled by a coporation, funded by big business interests, and run by RNC and DNC operatives. They’ve become a lot like the party conventions — carefully choreographed showcases of the candidates rather than true debates of substantive issues that affect voters. Each campaign can stipulate too many special provisions, and in the end, it’s nothing more than each candidate giving carefully rehearsed responses to hand-picked moderators.

The only way to make this actually work would be to return control of the debates to some independent group like the League of Women Voters. In fact I think it would be great to have a few different non-profit, non-partisan groups sponsor different debdates. They would invite the candidates of their choice. Campaigns wouldn’t be able to dictate the rules. Imagine how different the 2000 debates would have been if Bush and Gore had been joined by Buchanan and Nader. So many people claimed that Nader cost Gore the election in 2000, but voters never got to hear Gore and Nader debate the issues on the same stage.

The debate tonight will still be revealing and important for both candidates, but I doubt much will actually be debated.