An ideal format it’s not, but next month’s Democratic presidential debate will have at least one improvement over the previous two instalments: just one debate, on one stage, on one night, with only ten candidates present.

“Daddy, let’s say hi to that guy!” my five-year-old chirped as my husband bumped down the road in our golf cart. My husband glanced over to see an older man watering his front yard with a hose.

Our presidential race is a poll-driven battle of teams managing superficial impressions. The public’s responses to horse race polls are based on little more than vague ideas of what the candidates are saying. When these polls surprise (like one — an outlier, to be sure — from Monmouth University released this week showing a sudden three-way tie among Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren), that drives coverage.

Do you hear the drumbeat of war? No, I don’t mean the threat of nuclear war with Iran or North Korea, or even the trade war with China. I’m talking about the drumbeat of liberal politicians and climate scientists who want us to go to war on climate change.