Back in the late 19th century, those concerned about corruption and inefficiency within our national political culture were called "goo-goos"--good government types. (Some may have also wanted to paint them as weenies.) I try not to be a goo-goo; the endless tut-tutting gets boring. But I do think we need a more informed electorate; who doesn't. In political campaigns, I think we need more discussion of issues. Who doesn't.
So, that having been said, Marvin Kalb a couple of months ago wrote an interesting piece for the NY Times. In it he calls, for the 2008 election, for TV time to be set aside each Sunday evening for the 9 Sundays between Labor Day and Election Day---time for serious candidate debates on the issues. If you count the 3 major over-the-air TV networks, plus all the cable news networks existing now---CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC, etc---there are really 9 major news networks. You could have a debate on each one. It could be done. It could be good. Kalb's piece deserved more attention than it received.
