Good find!

And reporters that ask the obvious follow-up questions and moderators that cut a mic to force responses to the question that was asked. I know....only in my dreams!

I would so love to hear such questions.

but then, out of those people, who would have been left?

We haven't had real debates in this country since the two corporate parties seized control of them during the 1988 election, and they have been steadily tightening control ever since.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_on_Presidential_Debates

In 1988, the League of Women Voters withdrew its sponsorship of the presidential debates after the George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis campaigns secretly agreed to a "memorandum of understanding" that would decide which candidates could participate in the debates, which individuals would be panelists (and therefore able to ask questions), and the height of the podiums. The League rejected the demands and released a statement saying that they were withdrawing support for the debates because "the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter."[4]

(more at link)