A New Debate Format

The following is an amazing idea for a presidential debate. In fact, it's an amazing idea worth trying out for debates for any elective office:

"I'd stage a series of three debates, so that if somebody screws up, there's  a chance to fix it next time. I'd hold the debates in an empty studio, nobody there but the two candidates sitting face-to-face and five cameras. No audience. No questioners. No moderator. I wouldn't even tell them who goes first, just turn on the lights and let them talk to each other. That's the debate that I'd like to see."--Roger Ailes, founder and CEO, Fox News Channel, from Roger Ailes, Off Camera by Zev Chafets (Sentinel/Penguin Group, 2013).

The only problem with Ailes's idea is that few, if any, candidates for political office would agree to participate in such an unstructured, risky debate format.