Where Debates Go to Die

Once upon a time, the League of Women Voters operated all political debates, and if you were running for office you showed up and followed the rules whether you like them or not.

Now it's just a waste of time.

Jack Brammer at the Herald:

Kentucky's U.S. Senate candidates each have accepted an invitation to debate each other — just not the same one.

Senate Minority Leader McConnell accepted an offer last month from Louisville's WDRB-TV, a Fox affiliate, to attend a June 21 debate, but Democratic nominee Alison Lundergan Grimes did not mention WDRB in a letter she sent McConnell on Thursday outlining her criteria for debating.

In the letter, Grimes said she had accepted an invitation for an Oct. 13 debate from KET, and she hoped McConnell would join her. 

 Grimes said Kentuckians should "have a full opportunity to hear our viewpoints and understand the real differences in our visions for the future of the state." But, she said, "there are a few criteria for these debates where we disagree."

KET is the Kentucky public television station, and in reality world its political credibility stands light years ahead of the Fox affiliate. Not so many years ago, no commercial television station would even have attempted to organize a debate in competition with KET.

But in reality world, the Democratic nominee would be an actual Democratic candidate.