Usually the audience is a few thousand people in person, and tens if not hundreds of thousands (or even millions) watching at home. The debate is for the voters, not the people in the room.

My state doesn't vote until April and I am still undecided between the two candidates left. I for one would like to see how they do in a one-on-one debate before making my decision.

But I think the Kennedy-Nixon Debate was done in a studio with aides, but no audience.

I'd be more than happy if they got rid of debate audiences permanently.

It's a debate, not a pep rally. All the hooting and hollering does is cut down on the time for issues to be discussed and give people a false sense of how the debate went, including the media.

What would be the point of the debate?

Well, it's over, but the more convincing the lead is by the time Sanders withdraws, the better off we'll all be come convention time.

I don't really have a problem if everyone goes through the motions for another couple of weeks if it means that the door is firmly closed on shenanigans like 2016.

Sanders staying in until it becomes mathematically impossible for him to win. I think he deserves that. But after that I expect him to endorse Biden. I’ll be very disappointed if he takes this all the way to the convention.

Sanders might want to take it to the convention, but no one outside of his die-hards is going to care. Voters, especially. They pretty clearly want to focus on Trump.

doesn't help us.

for the repubs?

No point in having it

Not that I think it's going to matter from a voting perspective, but the fewer excuses that Sanders supporters have to complain, the better off we'll be at this point. If the debates are cancelled, they'll come up with conspiracy theories, DNC, blah, blah, and/or claim that Biden was "afraid" to debate Bernie. I'd like the door closed on all of that.

because their only hope is for Biden to make a fatal gaffe.

I don't want any more debates -- they won't throw any more light on the race.

I think there are only two scheduled and if the first comes off as we all expect it to - basically a repeat of the last couple - I think cancelling the last one would be a no-brainer.

I get your point and I mostly agree with it. I just want the door closed as convincingly as possible.

I think there was discussion about it yesterday or earlier I heard.

It will have a moderator and will be televised. No need to have people in the Hall reacting and doing some of the other stuff they do.

Live audiences at a debate are an abomination. They should never be there.

Why not just have the two of them at a desk with the moderators.

now can we dismiss the childish "stand/sit" controversy

Put 'em both in rocking chairs with nice comfy robes, some fuzzy slippers, a coupla pipes and a big glass of Bushmills single malt for each of them . Sitting in front of a roaring, crackling fireplace.

Of course, it's in the 70s in Phoenix right now so we'll have to crank up the A/C so they don't sweat their asses off.

We might have to skip over any climate change questions wasting all that energy.