Another solution to the GOP presidential debate problem

3) Failing that, make it random.

Or if the GOP thinks these heats would disadvantage their top contenders, what with four lower-rung contenders ganging up on each of the top contenders, they could simply make the participants in each debate completely random. Draw lots for all I care. Just mix it up a bit. Maybe there’s a David Brat in the group who can take down a Jeb. Maybe it will just help the party get unified around a particular candidate.

I’m sure that the GOP establishment would love nothing more than to limit these debates to a few candidates who already have tremendous donor support. That would be easier. But there’s a wisdom in exposing more people to more discussions of GOP policies and ideas — particularly at a time when the Democrats have one candidate who refuses to answer questions and a field (Sanders and Clinton) that hasn’t bothered to disagree with each other that much. Republicans should be encouraging candidates to engage in some Lincoln-Douglas debates. I’d absolutely love to see each candidate square off against another on a foreign policy topic. If one such matchup was between Rand Paul and Lindsay Graham, we could all have watch parties. Ben Domenech is right when he argues against debate moderators, which is such a simple fix in so many ways that it’s amazing it hasn’t been tried before.