Do the debates matter? NO DISCUSSION NEEDED

FACEBOOK FACEBOOK.COM/USATODAYOPINION The debates have questionable value because the candidates are given the basic topics early and have time to prepare canned answers.

Ed Scheiner

It’s kind of frightening that a debate can change the race. Debates are conducted in two-minute sound bites and tend to repeat talking points. Are debates swaying people because they encourage critical thinking or because they provoke emotional responses?

Joel Dykstra

These so-called debates are nothing more than tightly scripted farces.

Derrick Kardos

We need a Lincoln-Douglas-style debate. I agree; the sound bites are just window dressing.

Jerome Mansfield

TOO MUCH EVASION

These debates are supposed to be about getting facts and details about the candidates and about their plans. Questions should be answered, not sidestepped and used to mount a political speech.

Jerry Schull

No debate is worth anything without a moderator asking follow-up questions so the candidates can’t weasel out of answering with a sound bite. If you really want the candidates to come close to answering people’s questions,

you need a moderator who is willing to make them stay on topic.

Erin Shetler

It’s much better to look at the debates, and what they did and didn’t really accomplish. When can we have a real, non-rehearsed debate that actually shows both candidates openly discussing what they truly think on questions asked at random?

Frey N Flannery

It’s a fairly simple choice. If you think big government is the answer and will take care of everything better, then vote for President Obama. If you believe the government is inefficient and messes most things up, then vote Mitt Romney.

Tim Wilde

There’s no argument about Obama’s foreign policy; he has done remarkably well. I don’t see Romney coming out on top on this.

King Sazzy Aigbe

There is no debate. Obama is a failure. Will Romney do right? That’s the only question.

Justin Henry