This article does a lot to explain why young people prefer Jon Stewart over whats's presented as actual news. The difference between CNN and Comedy Central is noticeable more because CC is funny than because CNN does serious journalism.

My biggest objections:

1. Allowing the audience to applaud answers.
2. Questions from the audience (what's the benefit of seeing nervous people muddle through questions?).
3. Allowing candidates to not answer the posed questions (this is always a problem, but just once I wish there was a debate where every answer had to start with 'yes' 'no' or 'I'm not sure' and anything that meandered off the path of an actual specific answer led to the candidates mic being turned down. The abortion question drove me nuts where everybody just talked about privacy.)

Just read the link, it wasn't a planted question in the traditional sense, it was a pre-approved question. All the question were (obviously) pre-approved.

Well, it was more than pre-approved: it was selected.

I don't like your "yes/no/not sure" rule -- that assumes that the moderator's question is unambiguous w/o any assumptions and all relevant context, which is rarely the case.