ABC News showed the right way to do a Democratic presidential primary debate

Slate

"Thursday night’s Democratic debate on ABC was the best debate of this still-young—sigh!—presidential primary season," says Justin Peters. "Why was it more helpful than its predecessors? In part because, unlike in the previous debates, the top 10 candidates were all on the same stage at once, not spread out across two nights alongside John Delaney, Tim Ryan, and the rest of the soon-to-be also-rans. But mostly the debate was refreshing because of the intelligent ways in which ABC’s four moderators structured their questions and parceled out time. The quadriad of George Stephanopoulos, Linsey Davis, David Muir, and Jorge Ramos offered almost three hours of largely sharp and specific questions tied to current events and candidates’ previous statements and life experiences. They kept the discussion moving, letting the candidates respond to their competitors’ statements when necessary but not allowing the evening to be bogged down by endless interruptions and rebuttals. They asked hard questions about the candidates’ records while mostly refraining from framing those questions around 'electability.' They turned the night into that elusive beast we often invoke but rarely see: a debate about issues."

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• Debating for three hours is torture, for candidates and viewers