The First Joust

Tonight is the first Presidential debate and, according to the Main Stream Media's narrative, one of Mitt Romney's last three chances to overcome his lagging poll results. The moderator of this first debate, Jim Lehrer of PBS, is not exactly the most unbiased referee who could have been chosen.  But then neither was moderator David Gregory of the recent Scott Brown/Elizabeth Warren debate at UMass/Lowell.  After an initial leftward list, David Gregory did manage to steady his tilt before the end of that joust.  Let us hope that Jim Lehrer can also approach this standard.

This first Presidential debate is to take place at the University of Denver in Colorado.  In fact, all the major debates this election year will take place at venues obviously favorable to Democrats ... universities (see: Debate Venues).  However, that aside, the real challenges to the Republican candidates are the questions they are to be asked ... as are the optics surrounding these contests.  Regarding these questions, previously on this blog I have already constructed ten questions I would like to have asked of each Presidential contestant.  For those who don't recall them, these queries are repeated here: Obama Queries and Romney Queries.  If Jim Lehrer (or possibly the audience) asks anything like these questions, I think this first joust could turn out to be a reasonably-fair contest.

I can't predict the optics, but I bet it will include the candidates's beaming wives and families ... but probably not any horses.