CURTAINS UP CNN likes to open its debates with a little pregame warm-up, with the candidates jogging out onto the field, er, stage, and doing a grip-and-grin with local notables.
After a centuries-long tradition of gussying up its debates with a little pomp and circumstance, one of Britain's foremost institutions of oratory apparently has decided that gowns and powdered wigs won't cut it anymore, and has turned to a man known for performing in jumpsuits and fetishistic masks.
The meeting follows the Republican National Committee's decision on Friday to suspend its debate partnership with NBC News, in response to claims that CNBC moderators mistreated its candidates at Wednesday night's forum.
The Guardian is holding its own debate with former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, head of the Labour yes campaign Alan Johnson, Eurosceptic peer and president of the Conservatives for Britain campaign Lord Nigel Lawson, and leader of the UK Independence party Nigel Farage – hosted by the Guardian's incoming political editor, Anushka Asthana.
It stirred debate with its proposal to drill in an Alaskan wildlife refuge.
He pointed out that when Ukip's leader, Nigel Farage, warned about the EU wanting its own army in his debate with Nick Clegg last year, the Lib Dem deputy prime minister dismissed this as a "dangerous fantasy".
"The student-led Stanford Political Union provided a model last year with its debate on affordable care," and we hope to help expand that approach with Cardinal Conversations, they said.
It came as Congress began its annual budget debate with a report from the Congressional Budget Office showing that the projected surplus for the next decade had dwindled to $1.6 trillion from $5.6 trillion a year ago and $3.4 trillion last summer.
That night, Fox News will broadcast its 90-minute debate with the top 10 finishers, moderated by Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier.
CNN noted on Tuesday that it counted more than three times as many live video streams of its Monday debate compared with its June debate.
