Nation: The Great Debates Debate

Jockeying for advantage is the name of the game for all the contenders

Only twice in the television age, 1960 and 1976, have presidential candidates formally debated, and it is an article of political faith that in both those hairline contests the encounters may well have decided the election. With all three candidates this year having long since agreed to joust, presumably a few aides should by now, with Nov. 4 only nine weeks away, have settled the details for the great TV debates of 1980. Quite the contrary. They are having surprising difficulties in getting the show on the road.

With Democrat...

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