Who should run the presidential debates?

John Nichols of the Nation says it's time to Open the Presidential Debates!

From the article: "For a quarter of a century, the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has been run by consummate insiders; the current co-chairs are former Republican National Committee head Frank Fahrenkopf, now president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, and former Bill Clinton White House spokesman Mike McCurry, in recent years one of DC’s most ardent defenders of the telecommunications industry.

The commission has always relied on corporate funding from the likes of Anheuser-Busch, Philip Morris, Prudential, AT&T and the International Bottled Water Association. Officially, corporate contributions are nonpartisan donations. In reality, as former League of Women Voters president Nancy Neuman has noted, “This is another soft-money deal. It is a way to show your support for the parties.” The league used to organize the debates, but it always had a hard time getting corporate money. Why? “There was nothing in it for corporations when they made a contribution to the league. Not a quid pro quo. That’s not the case with the commission." Read more...