Spolier Alert!

Widely covered, and mocked -- victory declared before debate itself. But there's a serious point here (I know, I always ruin things with "serious points." So sue me). We talk about "spin," or, more recently, "truthiness." This is actually a quite powerful example. There is, given the nature of our Presdiential Debates, no objectively true answer to the question "who won the debate." In part, it's because that's a lousy question, making, quite literally, a game of it. Each campaign will therefore offer its own answer and, shockingly, will usually declare that their candidate clearly "won." It's just not typically quite so transparent. So, when you watch the debate (rebroadcast tomorrow, but will likely be available online), don't think in win/lose terms. Think about more substantive questions: evaluate BO and JM's breadth and depth of knowledge, compare their policy positions, or their approach to governance and management; make judgments about their consistency, their intellectual honesty, their. . . . you get the idea. Oh, and evaluate the framing, and the depth and seriousness of the questions the moderator poses. And perhaps blog-down (like write down?) your reactions BEFORE reading or viewing any of the commentary that will inundate us. I have little doubt that your observations can be more insightful, and useful, than 86.789 percent of what will appear on the teevee and in the intertubes.