Rather than debates, we should take the candidates and make them work on a group project on TV. This will force them to actually come up with new ideas, communicate these effectively to their colleagues, gain the trust of their colleagues, and lead the group.

We would be able to see which candidate actually can be creative and come up with ideas, which candidate can build consensus, which candidate can rally a group and get them to execute on an idea. It might be multiple candidates, or 1 candidate might emerge as the best, but this would serve to help the public see which candidate might make the best president.

Projects can be political in nature or just a technical task. After a few of these, we would hopefully see a trend on which politicians can create, innovate, and lead. You guys are the experts, you can figure it out!

In a country of 300,000,000+ people, no 1 candidate will ever truly have ideas that represent the group, but at least we can see which candidate would have the talents and skills necessary to make decisions and get things done