I concur with Dan Drezner's rant re: tonight's debate, and would add a specific country to his list of "what are we missing?"
Mexico.
Oh, I'm sure we'll get a brief mention of Fast and Furious from Romney. If things heat up, we might also get a brief sidebar into immigration.
But will there even be a mention of the drug war? Will a candidate from either party mention the disarray of our immediate neighbor to the south? (The one that, you know, has been a major humanitarian crisis for years and very much threatens regional security?) Might either of the two bring up the malignant problems experienced by the Eurozone? Maybe even a relative gimme such as: "Should NATO pivot to the Pacific?"
Nope. Instead, we've got the following: Four questions on the greater mideast (with one specifically on Israel/Iran and one specifically on Pakistan/Afghanistan), one on "America's Role in the World," and one on China.
All of those are important questions, but none of them are debatable (unless we see more Etch-A-Mitt). We know where the candidates stand on every listed question, and we can largely predict where they'll differ. Hint: it's mostly on granular details.
But this is my announcement that the debate, like the first three, will be liveblogged here. Please stop by and suffer the faux debate with your humble editor.