Remote patrol

The second presidential debate airs live from Wake Forest University in North Carolina beginning at 8 tonight. The three major networks and PBS, as well as the usual cable channels, will carry the skirmish and then offer tainted post-debate analysis from the usual suspects. While you're listening to George Stephanopoulos, Frank Luntz, Arianna Huffington and all the others argue about who won, remember that for most of them - and most of us - the debates are a mere formality. The vast majority of voters have already made up their minds. The undecideds among us are a small and shrinking lot. In that sense the debates, despite their mass viewership, are niche television, just like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or "The Parkers." And just as advertisers on those shows care only about their "target audience" of teens or African-Americans, so Al Gore and George W. Bush will be aiming their messages at a relatively small group - perhaps 10 million out of tonight's projected 50 million viewers - who still haven't decided which candidate will get their vote. @ART CAPTION:Gore; Bush @ART:Photos (2, color) >>>