I have deliberately avoided the Bernie Wars.

[Jim Lane]

74. The sad truth is that this debate won't matter much in the short term.

For the long term, it's good to have a debate about a serious public issue.

Whether the Graham/Cassidy bill passes next week, however, won't depend on what millions of CNN viewers think. As I understand the current whip count, McCain and Paul (along with all the Democrats and independents) are definite Nay votes. Collins and Murkowski, who voted against the last one, are the prime hopes for getting the 51st vote that will kill the thing. Secondarily, Capito and Portman represent states that would suffer under the bill. One of them might flip.

So at this point there are four people in the whole country whose opinion really matters. My guess is that none of them will watch the debate. They've already heard everything that any of the four debaters will say. The debate might have some effect by moving the needle a little bit on their constituent mail, but that's it.