See, this is precisely what we need more of…

An education-focused news outlet run by the journalist-turned-advocate Campbell Brown plans to host presidential forums for both parties, with the first one held in New Hampshire.

[snip]

The Republican forum will be first, in August, and Jeb Bush, who has made education a signature issue in his campaign, is among those who have committed to attending. So have Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett Packard chief executive.

…and less in the way of ten-ring-circus debates where everybody thinks that they’re the ringmaster and everybody else is one of the clowns. We do should be doing four- or five-candidate panels on EVERYTHING, from education to foreign policy to social issues to, heck, what’s good on television these days. I’m actually serious about that last one, by the way. The problem with politicians talking about culture is that politicians think that doing that means ‘talking about what 18 to 25 year old people like.’ Here’s a little secret: most voters are not 18 to 25. I’d rather find out what these people really watch, read, or listen to*, instead of being told what their consultants think I want to hear.

Just saying.

Via @MaggieNYT. Image via Shutterstock.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: The Democratic forum will be as dull as dishwater, by the way. Apparently the American Federation of Teachers has endorsed Hillary Clinton already, and the head of the AFT is allied with Clinton and hates Campbell Brown. That should remarkably simplify the Democratic primary discussion with regard to good educational policy, no?

*No, really. I can get a pretty good feel for a person by finding out what they like to do to relax. It’s hardly perfect, but it’s often useful. Besides, one of the secrets of the political world is that there are rather more closeted geeks in it than you’d expect; and that won’t change until more people are comfortable with copping to it in public.