Presidential Debate Schedule 2012
Those of you looking to fill your October evenings now have three presidential and one vice presidential debate to look forward to.
Those of you looking to fill your October evenings now have three presidential and one vice presidential debate to look forward to. Dylan Byers:
First presidential debate: October 3, University of Denver, Colorado: Domestic issues, questions selected by moderator.
Vice presidential debate: October 11, Centre College, Danville, Kentucky: Domestic and foreign issues, questions selected by moderator.
Second presidential debate: October 16, Hofstra University, Hampstead, N.Y.: Town-hall meeting format with questions from undecided voters.
Third presidential debate: October 22, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida: Foreign issues, questions selected by moderator.
While I find the standard debates with media moderators slightly annoying, they’re likely the best we’re going to get; it’s hard to conceive of going back to the days when the two candidates would agree to engage each other in a free-style discussion. The town hall format, however, is a gimmick that has long outlived its usefulness.
If I had my druthers, the debates would also be more spread out rather than crammed into a three week period. There’s certainly plenty of time: the Republican convention is just a month away and the Democratic convention will be over on September 6.
This schedule also doesn’t give either of the candidates much time to recover from a bad debate performance.
I am biased but this would seem to favor President Obama, especially if he comes out aggressively and hammers Romney on his MA health care plan and lack of specifics on his tax policy.
For example, exactly what tax deductions is Romney planning to cut, untaxed health care benefits or the mortgage deduction? Nothing else would deliver the kind of revenues he would need to offset the reduction in rates he is proposing.