A Brief History of Handshakes at Presidential Debates

After surveying footage of past presidential debates on YouTube, the Miami Herald‘s “Naked Politics” blog found “an unbroken streak of handshakes dating all the way back to the first time Gerald Ford faced Jimmy Carter in 1976″—the year that established debates as a regular event—and concluded that the Oct. 19 debate was the first time presidential candidates did not shake hands during a debate.