Is it time to scuttle the debate moderator?

After three widely viewed debates, it’s easy to declare a loser: the moderator.

In the first showdown, PBS anchor Jim Lehrer tried desperately to spark interaction, only to have both John McCain and Barack Obama treat him like a hall monitor about to get stuffed into a locker. When the vice presidential candidates met, Gov. Sarah Palin all but ignored PBS’ Gwen Ifill at times, proudly declaring that she may not answer the questions posed to her, choosing instead to talk directly to Americans. In last week’s bout, the top guns stepped around time limitations and ground rules, leaving Tom Brokaw to declare that he was “just a hired hand.”

All three journalists are top-notch, as is Bob Schieffer, who will be “in charge” of Wednesday’s final debate, but when it comes to the modern-day format for presidential debates, the moderator is nothing more than a highly paid chaperone who can’t keep the rascals from spiking the punch.

Schieffer would be better off if he skipped the event - and so would we.

I’m not suggesting that we revert to the approach used in 1858, when Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas faced each other seven times while seeking a seat in the Illinois Senate. At those debates, one candidate would get an hour to talk, with the other getting 90 minutes to respond, followed by a final 30-minute rebuttal by the first speaker. Then the two of them would go into the crowd and gently wake up everyone who had dozed off.