I’m disappointed to see that Bush and Kerry apparently will debate three times, not two. My main concern isn’t that Bush needs to minimize his chances of making a mistake–even though agreeing to few or no debates is a classic frontrunner strategy. Instead, it’s that the debate they would have axed was one of those dumb “town hall” meetings. I can’t stand those. The questions are almost uniformly bad, and the questioners always seem to be thinking that the federal government has a role in solving whatever problem concerns them. (Remember that guy with the pony tail in 1992?) I can’t think of a worse format. I gather that the Bush folks are still negotiating over the particulars of how this middle debate will be conducted, and they’ll probably turn a metaphysically terrible format into one that is merely bad. But it will still be bad. Eight years ago, Clinton refused to debate Bob Dole three times and got away with it. Perhaps the media won’t be so forgiving with Bush–he might be portrayed as ducking Kerry, rather than improving the quality of American presidential elections. Still, I wish somebody would consign these “town hall” debates to oblivion.