FINALLY, the presi- dential debates are over!

I say "finally" because we not only had to suffer through the three between President Obama and Mitt Romney but also all those Republican primary debates that seemingly began in 2009.

I don't put much stock in debates. I never have. Candidates know what questions are coming and have time to prepare. That doesn't tell me much about either candidate because in real life, decisions often have to be made on the spur of the moment. There is no prep time.

Prior to some debates, candidates can reject questions they don't like. That doesn't work in real life. I want to hear responses to hard, spontaneous questions.

For example, I'd like to hear a moderator ask, "Tell Americans, in detail, about your sex life, past and present."

Of course, no one would dare ask a question like that of any candidate. That's too personal. Yet, the media will pay reporters and private detectives thousands of dollars to dig up answers to that very question.

If a candidate's sex life is so important to the American people (ask John Edwards or Arnold Schwarzenegger), why not just come right out and ask about it prior to the election during a nationally televised debate?

Oooh! Can't do that! That's off limits! We gotta sneak around and get the answers to that one! That's a back-channel issue!

Another thing I don't like is this business of high-profile entertainers making political endorsements during concerts, as Barbra Streisand did a couple of weeks ago.

If you want to stump for a candidate, fine. But don't do it during a concert people have paid $75--or much more--to attend! They came to watch you perform, not hear your political views, which, incidentally, some won't agree with.

If entertainers want to talk politics, let them bill the gathering as a political rally for a specific candidate, not a concert.

Don't want to do that! That might cut down on the $75-a-head tickets! I'll just sneak in a little plug for my candidate.

Everything is sneaky in an election year.

Finally, here's a good election question: Can dead people vote?

While this practice may be be standard operating procedure in Chicago, it is supposedly illegal everywhere else.

Or is it?

Suppose, for example, someone casts an absentee ballot today but dies before Election Day. Does that vote count?