Kerry will do something stupid by showing up. He is worse in public than algore.
The debates will be critical for one simple reason -- by mid October, things will be going pretty much the way they are now, meaning Iraq is improving and two million jobs have been added, or they will be worse. If things are going smoothly, Kerry has nothing to talk about and Bush does. Or vice-versa. Absent a national disaster, Kerry loses big.
I'm sorry... I just can't forget Gerald R. Ford's debate blunder that gave the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter! I'm PRAYING that George W. Bush doesn't find some brain fart way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!!!