Will the Debates Matter?

The election looks to be one of the closest in history, and the current political backdrop set it up to be one of the most important as well. Nearly a month away from this pivotal day, two proven debaters take the stage to discuss issues on which the country is almost evenly divided. Despite all this, there seems to be a sense of apathy towards Thursday's debate. In fact, many people who have told me that they are going to watch the debate said they are just doing so they can watch the Daily Show's coverage and Saturday Night Live's take on it. Why is this? One opinion that seems to be prevalent is that the debate will be marked by the candidate's skirting the issues to personally attack each other's credibility. Based on the smear campaigns both candidates have been leading the past few months, that is definitely not an unfounded expectation. All I can hope is that Kerry and Bush will surprise us and actually have a meaningful debate about the issues and their plans for the future.