so tonight is the third and final presidential debate, but i wonder if the influence of the debates on the election is already spent. the t.v. ratings indicate that between the first and second debate viewership fell from 62 million to 47 million. maybe some of that drop off was due to the fact that the last debate was on a weekend night (that's what got me to skip it). but tonight there are baseball playoffs, which may draw even more viewers than any mere friday night. (on my way back from my hearing this afternoon, n.p.r. did a story where they interviewed random people on the street to ask what they will watch tonight, most said baseball. not that this is a scientific sample or anything, but it does confirm that many people have other priorities).
when people discuss debates from prior presidential elections, i never hear them distinguish between the different debates. the official narrative is that gore "lost" the 2000 debates, which is challenged by the argument that, in fact he "won" according to the polls but then that verdict was overturned by an anti-gore media. regardless which argument is right, neither one distingishes between different debates. in 2000, like this year, there were three presidential debates. yet when we look back they are lumped together into one overall impression. i wonder if the overall impression for this year has already been set. maybe it was even after just the first debate. unless there is some kind of spectacular blunder, what happens tonight may not matter much in shaping this year's debate narrative.
nevertheless, i will be watching this time. i'm not really a baseball fan anyway.
