Debate Time

Right now, America is at the end of baseball season, the middle of football season, and what was supposed to be the beginning of hockey season.  I wrote off the baseball season a few months ago (the perils of a Cubs fan), the Bears are arguably the best team in the NFL right now, and I'm watching the NHL lockout with awe that it actually happened.  But the one season that I'm watching closest right now won't ever compete for the title of "America's Pastime."  That's right, I'm currently in full-on Presidential Debate mode.

The Presidential Debate League (PDL) is one of the newer sports.  The first true matchup happened in 1960, when Kennedy faced off with Nixon in the first televised debate ever.  This debate had an interesting outcome: to those who watched the debate, Kennedy seemed like the clear winner, but to those who listened to the debate without seeing it, Kennedy and Nixon seemed to have tied.  Kennedy played up to the cameras, making this first PDL season one of the few times that the debate has had a noticeable affect on an election and the first to have a disputed outcome.

The League went on hiatus for the next 3 election cycles, but came back with a vengeance for the 1976 season.  Coming in, Ford looked like the favorite -- the incumbent who was leading in the polls -- and Carter was just trying to make up some ground.  Fortunately for Carter, Ford essentially gave him the election when he stated that "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration."  Carter seized on the fact that he wasn't Gerald Ford, and won in a close election.

The next 2 seasons, Reagan ran the table in both the debates and the elections, leading these seasons to be considered by some experts as "boring."

1988 led the league back into the spotlight through an unlikely source: the VP debate.  In this debate, Dan Quayle tried to ease fears of his inexperience by comparing his experience to Kennedy's when he ran for president, leading to the famous quip of "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" from his opponent, Lloyd Bensten, marking the first time that the Vice Presidential debate was actually notable.

Since then, the League has been in something of a slump.  1992 was notable because it was the only time that three candidates were involved when independent Ross Perot was invited to the debate and George Bush was caught checking his watch, which didn't really help his reelection bid.  After that, the League faded out of public consciousness for a while.

This year marks the return of the debates.  After Obama's no-show in the first round, he came back and supposedly came back and trounced Romney in the latest round (I don't personally know, I've got it on DVR and will watch it later).  Even the VP debate was good to watch when Biden went all Joe Biden on Ryan.  This season may be the most important since 1976, which was the last time the debates had a significant impact on the election.

Right now, the PDL is America's 4th major sport (I'm discounting the NHL because of the lockout and putting it ahead of the MLS).  So here's to hoping that the League continues strong for years to come.