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Won’t you miss those debates?
For months now Republicans and Democrats have been slugging it out on live TV. And the ratings have been surprisingly good even when they’ve been aired on relatively hard-to-find channels like MSNBC.
They allowed John McCain to show how tough he can be, putting Mitt Romney is his place for flip-flopping on issues ranging from immigration to torture. And perhaps more significantly, they allowed Barack Obama to transform himself from obscure junior senator from Illinois to Oprah-blessed messenger of hope.
But Tuesday’s encounter at Cleveland State University between Obama and Hillary Clinton in all likelihood brought the curtain down on the first half of the debate season.
Both the Democratic and Republican races could be over by Tuesday night (polls Friday showed Obama leading Clinton in Texas and gaining fast in Ohio). But in any case the next debates will likely occur in the fall after both parties make their nominations official at the summer conventions.
Besides, you can’t expect the choosing of a president to compete with important business like deciding who will be the next American Idol.