Last month I attended one of the debates in New Hampshire for the Republican presidential candidates and watched two Democratic encounters on television. I have concluded that these debates and those scheduled for the fall are simply poor television programs and not debates at all. The format requires one candidate to put questions to another or a television personality to ask press-conference-type questions of the candidates, but it leaves little time for any of the candidates to present adequately his views and platforms. Mr. Gore's asking Mr. Bradley if he is as strongly supportive of homosexuals serving in the military as Gore is, or Mr. Bradley's asking Mr. Gore if he wants to spend as much as Bradley does on education, does not advance our understanding of why either candidate should be President or of what either would do if elected.
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