A cautionary note about the excitement over the polls showing Bernie up, way up over

[senz]

39. I hope the Bernie campaign is ready for a fix or dirty tricks

in the debates. They could come in many forms -- vapid questions, odd ground rules, critical tone toward Bernie, audience stacked with Hillary supporters, avoidance of his strong suits, unexpected attacks from Hillary (like the ones toward Obama in 2008), speechifying designed to make him look bad, questions about his "wild youth," etc. He's a good strategist and not easily rattled, but I hope he has some pros who can envision scenarios and coach him through good, workable responses and help set up fair ground rules about lights, placement of podiums, etc. He knows the subject matter, thinks well on his feet, and his basic nature will come through -- a refreshing change from ordinary politicians, including Hillary -- so he will have those advantages going in.

I'm going to worry like a mother hen, even though Bernie knows far about these things than most of us.