An underwhelming presidential debate kicks off Brazil’s campaign season

Three weeks before the television and radio campaign ads start, Brazil witnessed the first presidential debate of 2018. With a confusing format and an excessive number of candidates, each presidential hopeful had little screen time to come out of it as a winner. Knowing that, candidates acted more in the way of avoiding blunders, and looking to consolidate their position among their already-established voting base, rather than reaching out to the undecided.

While there were no clear winners from this presidential debate, two characters were the clear losers. One of them was President Michel Temer, who was thrown under the bus by nearly all candidates, including Geraldo Alckmin, the former São Paulo governor who was all smiles for Mr. Temer two years ago. Not even Henrique Meirelles, who until the beginning of the year served as Mr. Temer’s Finance Minister, went out of his way to defend the president. It’s understandable.

Who wants to be associated with a president approved by only 3 percent of voters?

The other loser is former President Luiz Inácio...