Primary of Ideas

If you aren't signed up for the Note daily E-mails, you wouldn't have gotten this. But if you were, along with the announcement that today's Note was posted, you would have seen this bit of "breaking news":

Senator Joseph Lieberman has asked his fellow candidates to agree to hold
one debate per month starting in July--but hold them in "neutral" forums
moderated by respectable journalists.

Here's the text of a letter from Lieberman campaign manager Craig Smith to
the other campaigns:

"On behalf of Senator Lieberman, I would like to propose that all of our
campaigns agree to one nationally-broadcast, media-sponsored debate a
month for the duration of the campaign. For practical scheduling reasons,
we suggest that these debates begin in July."

"If we all agree that the Democratic primary should be one of ideas, let's
all agree to appear regularly before the voters on television in
media-sponsored, neutral debates that have the potential of reaching the
widest possible audience. Doing so would not only help ensure that the
voters hear our voices but that the Republican Party is not permitted to
dominate the political debate with its fundraising resources and with the
media power of the presidency."

"I urge all of our campaigns to accept this challenge and to work together
to make this happen."

"We hope to be able to work with you, with the media and with sponsoring
organizations to organize these monthly debates."

As far as I'm concerned, nothing could be more positive for the Democratic field as a whole, and Dean in particular, than a monthly debate. I hope the Dean campaign, Kerry campaign, and every other campaign that seriously wishes to win this election takes Lieberman up on his offer. We, as a party, desperately need to test our ideas and bring exposure to our candidates. A series of debates is will allow us to battle test both our ideas and our candidates. And Dean, in particular, will be able to put his skills on the stump in front of a national audience...what could be better?