Well, we don't have THAT many more (What did Obama and McCain have? 2, maybe 3?), but NEVER didn't seem possible, and I can't imagine an election where the candidates don't square off against each other at least once....
EDIT: Sorry Hoops, was in mid reply to Wy. That's staggering; it's the issues, the candidate's ability to think quickly and articulate a cohesive, lucid, well-thought-out and defensible position on the issues that's important. Don't get me wrong; having the leaders in office do this is important, too, but not quite the same thing...
EDIT#2: There were actually 4 scheduled debates, with the candidates also appearing in 2 forums (not officially debates), but they ended up not holding one of them (it's somewhat coming back now
)