As James suggests, few things are more tempting and pointless as “adjudicating” debates according to the Expectations Game. These matters may not be as zero-sum as a horse-race but it’s silly – even if one does it oneself – to view them in terms of Who Did Better than Expected? None of these fellows is a Cicero who might need to carry a penalty weight…
Should, however, you want to see how people who judge debates for a living umpire these occasions then I direct you to Election Debates where a panel of grizzled veterans* (who ought to know better but can’t quite leave the game) will offer their verdicts – based, I trust, on whatever passes for actual “debating” tonight rather than awarding points for turning up and seeming marginally more human/substantial/old than you might have expected…
Meanwhile, CSPAN have done an amazing thing: their entire archive is now online and you can watch the whole of the first Nixon-Kennedy debate here. A taster follows. Note how the journalists asking the questions introduce themselves. Groovy!
*Disclosure: Some of them are friends of mine.
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