The larger issue, meanwhile, is that the stakes would be off-kilter. If they went at it, and 25 percent of people came away impressed by Rush while 40 percent were impressed by Obama and the remaining 35 percent deemed the whole thing dumb, that would be a net benefit for Rush (who’s just a radio host, happy to have the allegiance of a large-and-impassioned minority) and a net loss for Obama (who’s a national politician who needs a broad base of support) notwithstanding the fact that Obama would have “won” in a strict sense.
--Michael Crowley