I often listen to NPR's Morning Edition with my porridge (I find it helps keep my blood pressure up). This morning I heard a woman at a political event in Iowa complain to Senator Hillary Clinton about the length of this presidential campaign. Later, I heard a comment I'd missed in last night's Republican debate. One of the candidates (I missed which one), said, about the same Senator Clinton, "I'm looking forward to debating her." I was left to believe that these were important concerns, more important, perhaps, than which soap I shaved with this morning.
Well.
Never let it be said that The Anger of Compassion is not here to help.
I propose borrowing an idea from Major League Baseball. I propose inter-league debates. That's right: under my proposal, Republican candidates will not only debate each other during the primary season (and the pre-primary season), but will also debate the Democratic candidates. All through the season.
There would also be an All-Star primary, and wild card positions in the primaries.
This is not so unheard of: some states allow cross-registration in their primaries, and some states have caucuses instead. There is already some variety in the system. My modest proposal adds not only more variety, but the possibility, nay promise, of some excitement.
Think about it: while a Romney-Edwards debate might be one the great sleep experiments of all time, as would Tancredo-Dodd, a Ron Paul-Barack Obama debate might be a decent slugfest. And, with the field of debate open to candidates of both major parties, imagine the office pools and futures market contracts on which debate would cause John McCain's head to explode.
There would be no designated hitter rule.
Posted by Craig Ceely at October 10, 2007 08:11 AM