Tonight’s debate will be unlike any that we’ve seen thus far.  Unlike the multicandidate forums–where there’s often an account and calculation for how to bounce off of, team with or ignore the other candidates on the stage–this will be a message vs. message event. 

It’ll be harder to duck, but allows more time to prove yourself.  And bury yourself.  Debates aren’t really informative in an idealistic, civics class sort of sense.  They really can’t help that much, but can hurt you a lot if you screw up.  The candidates would like nothing more than to get their message out repeatedly, while at the same time enumerating where they stand on the issues.  Engagement with the other candidate opens up the potential for disaster. 

This is obviously unavoidable now.  Despite my support for Obama, I think Clinton has handled herself better in the debates than he has.  She is on point, on message and generally pleasant.  Obama gets testy and frustrated.  When cornered, he loses focus and becomes less effective.  If that happens tonight, you can be sure that the YouTube clips will wind up in the inboxes of a whole bunch of February 5 voters.  If he steps up, gets his message out, and maybe even gets a few barbs in he’ll have a nice little cap feather going into next week.

We’ll see. 

UPDATE: Damn!  So I’m posed with a dilemma.  Do I do my civic duty and watch the debate, or do I watch the season premiere of Lost?    

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