At this stage, most Americans outside of Washington, and perhaps Iowa and New Hampshire, are not paying very close attention to the election. Based on the mainstream coverage, the typical voter’s perception of the presidential campaign is likely to reflect two things: Donald Trump’s insults and Clinton’s e-mails. And that means, in the absence of a more visible debate among Democrats, the competition between Trump and his Republican opponents — a bitter clash of the far right and further right — is defining the narrative.

As O’Malley said in an interview with liberal radio host Bill Press, “We have good candidates, and we offer the ideas that will serve our country and get wages to go up rather than down.” But without more opportunities for Democratic candidates to address a national audience, “the airwaves are being dominated entirely by talk of the Republican side.”

To put it bluntly, Democrats should want more debates not only because of fairness or democratic ideals but also because they will be good for the party — and Clinton should want more debates because they will be good for her campaign. The party should embrace the opportunity to change the conversation before the 2016 narrative is set in stone.