Debates

The debates over the weekend in Atlantic Beach seem to be generating a lot of discussion, but beyond the Capital Press Corps and already committed political junkies do you think anyone even watched?

I don't think any debates except for October Presidential ones make much of an impact in politics unless someone royally screws up. It doesn't sound like Bev Perdue or Pat McCrory was very sharp on Saturday. That's fine. As long as they're sharp in the thirty second ads voters will see hundreds of times this fall they'll be alright.

Case in point- Jim Neal by most accounts owned Kay Hagan when they debated in April. But that didn't keep Hagan from winning the primary by 42 points.

I certainly think American politics would be in better shape if more voters watched the candidates engage with each other and made that a bigger part of how they make their voting choices. But we're pretty much at the point where all these debates do is give pundits something to chatter about while the masses turn the newspaper page or flip the channel.