September 29

Twenty-four hours to the opening debate.

Here's some of the questions that should be asked.

Howard Kurtz in The Post talks about how voters will likely perceive the debates and the spin that surrounds them. It'll be an ongoing theme in the next 24 hours, as there's much debate over the true importance of such stage-managed events.

The Post also seems to think that Kerry will press the President hard on Iraq, even to the extent of adopting some of his opponent's tactics.

Interesting piece in The New York Times on potential problems for absentee voters, together with a poll number - and an interesting demographic slice - that shows that Americans with passports favoured Kerry over Bush by 58 to 35 per cent.

Times also has an op-ed by Al Gore on how to debate Bush.... Oh, let's not go there.

But the former VP sums it up thus:

The debate tomorrow should not seek to discover which candidate would be more fun to have a beer with. As Jon Stewart of the "The Daily Show" nicely put in 2000, "I want my president to be the designated driver."

Finally, a story from South Carolina that somehow you just knew would wind up with the candidate stressing he was "running a positive campaign of ideas... blah blah blah...".