NYT Columnist, Former Ambassador Stage Debate

The Open to Debate formerly known as Intelligence Squared U.S. series has a cool gimmick: at the beginning, audience members vote on the resolution via little keypads at each seat; at the end, they vote again; whichever side changed the most minds wins. As last night’s debate began, it was exciting to find that 25% of the crowd voted undecided, meaning that many minds were open to persuasion as the four panelists debated the resolution, The U.S. should step back from its special relationship with Israel.