A pyramid of arguments should be displayed, and required to stay updated during political debates through means of having the level of the argument on the hierarchy highlighted, or with an arrow pointing towards that level. This should be used for all debates by candidates for the various offices of the executive, and legislative branch.
The proposed pyramid would look like this:
http://jimbuie.blogs.com/journal/2011/08/the-argument-pyramid.html
This would keep the audience informed when either party begins to attack the opponent with either a weak argument or an attack on character. This could inadvertently create a more informed voter and improve the understanding of the political debates.