There's no debate that debates are great

I love election year. I love everything about it. I love seeing candidates compete for the nomination of their parties, I love seeing important domestic and international issues being discussed openly and frequently in a public forum and I love seeing some governor, senator or congressman that you might never have heard of before suddenly step to the front and center of the limelight.

Most of all, however, I love when the candidates debate.

There have already been several state primaries and debates, and I've followed all of them. In just a few weeks, we've already had some surprises and a few candidates are already out of the mix. Sen. Fred Thompson, who most know from movies and his work on TV's "Law In Order," has already withdrawn from the Republican race. He did always seem very "presidential" on the big and small screen, but so did Harrison Ford and Michael Douglas. I liked Fred, but apparently most voters felt acting like a great leader on film doesn't make you qualified to lead the free world.

As of yesterday, "America's Mayor" and super-Yankees-fan Rudy Giuliani, is also out. Everybody loved Rudy in the days, weeks and months following 9/11 as he led our nation's greatest city though its darkest days, but Rudy apparently put too much stock in that collateral. Perhaps, after he left the mayor's office, he should have sought another role in public office, such as a seat in the Congress, or as governor, before shooting for the biggest job in the world. A little D.C. experience might have helped, and though he had hoped all of the transplanted New Yorkers in Florida would give him the Sunshine State earlier this week, it didn't happen. Now he's endorsing Sen. John McCain.

And so the Republicans are down to four: McCain, Gov. Mitt Romney, Gov. Mike Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul.

I watched these four go at it on CNN on Wednesday night. Unlike the Democrats, these guys are still at least trying to be civil and respectful to one another, though it's clear McCain would rather drink from the toilet than share a beer with Romney. Both say they are committed to victory in Iraq and pledged their faith in a small, hands-off, Reagan-style government. And of course, they play up their conservative values and toe the party line on ideology. Truthfully, I kind of like both of these guys.

I felt bad for Huckabee and Paul at Wednesday's debate, as they were clearly treated as sideshow players. Neither got much camera time on CNN as McCain and Romney traded barbs, which was unfortunate, as Huckabee can be quite witty and is an excellent speaker when given the microphone. If I hadn't read some of his goofy views on gays and AIDS, I might really like the guy. And Paul? Sometimes he was the only one making any sense at all. A true voice of common sense, it's too bad he has no shot at all of getting the nomination.

The Democrats?

That's been even more fun to watch, and it's already down to just two: Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

Though I'm not surprised Sen. John Edwards is already out of the race, I was surprised Sen. Ted Kennedy threw everybody a curve the other day by turning his back on his longtime friendship with the Clintons and endorsed Obama. I've also been surprised at just how nasty this race has gotten, so quickly. Here, we have a race of historic proportions -- for the first time, a woman and a minority leading the pack in the race for the presidential nomination -- and these two are throwing each other under the bus everyday with their not-so-subtle snipes and jabs. Throw ex-Prez Bill Clinton into the mix, who has campaigned so hard for his wife and wants so badly to get his old address back that some feel he's gone too far in his attacks on Obama, and you've got some great entertainment here.

Like Bill did in '92, Hillary is also championing national health care -- though that never got very far -- and it's also ironic that no president was more loved by black Americans than Bill, yet he's now the one trying the hardest to keep a black American out of the White House. The Clinton/Obama relationship -- despite having some of the same views on the war and domestic issues -- has soured so much that sharing a ticket in November now seems impossible.

Enter our own Gov. Ed Rendell. He endorsed Hillary the other day and just might be a potential running mate should she get the nomination. Last night, Ed was on TV saying that despite Super Tuesday being only a few days away, things still might be so close in April that the Pennsylvania primary could still play a major factor in who runs for president.

Fun, fun, fun.

I love it.

But not for the bickering. I've actually enjoyed seeing the Republicans try to act respectful to one another more than I enjoy seeing the Democrats take so many cheap shots at each other. And what I really enjoy is the sheer greatness of the democratic process. I enjoy, as I said before, seeing important domestic and international issues being discussed openly and frequently in a public forum by people that might someday be able to make a difference in our lives. We can get overloaded with news these days. We have 24-hour news on TV, talk radio, the Internet ... sometimes it's just as easy to tune out than to tune in. But the ratings on these debates have been very good. People are interested. Electing a new President of The United States, clearly, is still a pretty big deal to most of us. And that's a good thing.

Hillary and Obama square off again tonight on CNN.

I will be watching.