Debate Debate

The League of Women Voters announced on Monday that it will sponsor twin presidential debates--one for Republican candidates and one for Democrats--before key primary elections next February and March in New Hampshire and the South. Additional primary debates, in the Midwest and West, will be announced later.

Still unresolved is whether the league will sponsor the general-election debates, as it has since 1976. The Democratic and Republican national parties have announced that they will take over the fall debates in 1988. The party chairmen are trying to muscle aside the League of Women Voters on the claim that they are more likely to commit the candidates to face each other. The chairmen also contend that they need the debates to restore image and power to the national parties.

The past debates have not been perfect, but the league has established its credibility as a fair and independent sponsor; it should be allowed to go on in that role. There is no guarantee that the parties are in a better position to force debate arrangements on candidates. The first thing that a nominee does after a convention is to put his own people in charge of the national party. There is some question, too, as to how the parties might deal with a strong third-party or independent challenger.

The debates should be institutionalized, but there is no evidence that the parties will be any more successful at that than the league. For now, the debate on debates should be ended quickly, by the parties stepping aside.