David Yepsen Pans His Boss's Handling of Des Moines Register Debate

"Don't quit your day job, boss."

Well, he didn't put it that way exactly, but the Des Moines Register's David Yepsen was not too impressed with editor Carolyn Washburn's job as moderator in the December 12 debate:

The debate was intentionally focused away from the war since that has been a focus of many of the earlier debates. That gave Paul a chance to talk more about his economic conservatism and libertarian ideas which are more appealing to mainstream conservative Republicans. [...]

The biggest problem in the debate was that it wasn’t really a debate. Candidates got almost no opportunity to grill one another. Often they ran out of time and were cut off just as they started to probe an opponent.

The event would have been more nourishing had the candidates and the format allowed for more back and forth.

We'll see if the Democratic debate reverses course and tackles Iraq and immigration, or if it actually allows some back-and-forth between candidates, particularly Sen. Clinton and Obama.

Related blog posts:

• Iowa GOP Debate: No to Questions on Immigration, Yes to Global Warming
• GOP Voters Pan 'Rigid,' 'Boring,' 'Antagonistic' Debate Moderator