The first thing that jumps out at you is the very odd timing, both of the agreement and of the debates themselves. Nate Silver, a liberal Democrat but an honest pollster as these things go, had some ideas I thought were interesting.

The first is obvious: The great majority of pundits think, correctly in my view, that Biden is behind. He needs a way to shake up the race, much as McCain needed to shake it up by picking Sarah Palin (and we know how well that worked out). Debating is the obvious choice, and all the better from Biden’s point of view to seem to be the one on offense (although in fact Trump has often said he’d debate anytime, any place).

Still, there are obvious downsides for Biden. Both the number of debates he wants (only two, not the traditional three) and the far-from-election-day scheduling suggest that he, or whoever is making the decisions for him, is aware of them.