Rahm Emanuel's inter not intra-party debate idea

Commented on favorably by David Ignatius. Nice idea.

clipped from www.washingtonpost.com What format would encourage sharp discussion about the problems facing the country rather than this empty process of rounding up the usual suspects? Here's a modest proposal, floated last week by Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a leading strategist of the Democrats' victory in the 2006 congressional elections: Organize a series of one-on-one face-offs in which leading Democratic candidates debate not each other but leading Republicans. That would push the campaign toward the center, where it ought to be. And it might produce a mandate for actually solving problems as opposed to bickering about them.