The Debates Are Broken

Jonathan Bernstein: “Indeed, the first problem with this debate was that — after a Nevada showdown in which each of the six candidates on stage could argue that he or she had a plausible way to win the nomination — at this point it’s hard to see anyone but Sanders and Biden with a serious chance, given the results so far, the polls, and the resources they each have. Steyer aside, that’s less about a flawed debate invitation process than about no one dropping out after Nevada, but it’s a real failure of the system.”

“Back to the process. To start with the most obvious thing: Everyone in the U.S. and at least half of the rest of the world was talking about coronavirus on Tuesday — and the stock market cratering amid fears of serious damage to the economy — yet the moderators didn’t get around to that issue until well into the second hour of the debate. In fact, there were hardly any policy questions in the first hour at all, with the moderators instead inviting candidates to pick fights with one another and pushing them on recent campaign controversies.”

“In other words, the debate on CBS wasn’t much different from recent ones on NBC and CNN. For better or worse, that’s how the journalists who run these things want it. They hope sparks will fly, and they want to be seen as asking tough questions.”

“But that doesn’t serve the interests of the party.”