Agreed. The town hall format is tailor made for leftists. Whiney “what are you going to do for *ME*???” type of questions from “undecided” voters who are more likely plants, plus very short answer and rebuttal format. The less there is an actual debate, the more easy it is to drop liberal talking points and platitudes, and then we’re off to the next inane question.
Romney was able to smoke Obama in the last debate because it had a more open Lincoln-Douglas type of format. Obama couldn’t just ramble for a couple of minutes and then off to the next question.
Hopefully Romney will be well prepped for this new format.
Plus, and this is a point that I’ve freely conceded in conversation with my liberal friends. Economics is Obama’s weak suit, and the first debate was all about economics. While I expect Romney to do well in the final debate, I don’t expect him to equal his performance in the first debate. This middle debate, he just has to not blow it, and this format will be a minefield for Romney.
The so-called undecided voters will probably be mostly Democrats. Candy Crowley gets the pick the questions—they might as well have David Axelrod pick the questions.