Voices
ALAN
SCHROEDER
HUFFINGTON
08.12.12
Political
Olympics
Preview
SCHEDULES AND VENUES have
been set, formats have been selected and competitors have begun strategizing for victory in
America’s upcoming political
Olympics: the 2012 presidential
and vice presidential debates, now
less than two months away. Let us
scrutinize the recent announcement of formats by the Commission on Presidential Debates for
early indications about this year’s
round of candidate match-ups.
As per recent tradition, the series will unfold during the month
ILLUSTRATION BY EDA AKALTUN
of October, beginning on the 3rd
and continuing through the 22nd,
two weeks before vot ers cast their
ballots. By international standards, American debates take
place unusually early in the process, well before citizens go to the
polls. There are historical reasons
for this: in 1980 incumbent Jimmy Carter and challenger Ronald
Reagan debated only a single time,
exactly one week before the elec-
Alan Schroeder
is a professor
of journalism
at Northeastern
University.