Politics: Primary colors

It's presidential primary season, which means endless debates stuffed with people trying to get a word in edgewise, and lots of punditry as to who has momentum and who's losing it.

If there's one thing the French system of politics has over us, though, it's that their debates are actually fun to watch. In the most recent presidential election, for example, Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal had a debate that lasted two hours. Two hours. Just the two of them arguing with each other. Granted, they're mostly arguing how extreme they want their socialism to be, but it's still a welcome change from our debate system (which has enough grandstanding and soundbites to last a lifetime).