BYRON YORK: As debates near, forum shows potential Trump advantage.

The problem for Clinton was that talk of her experience leads naturally to talk of what she has done — and that, in today’s campaign environment, means talk of her mishandling of classified information as secretary of state. “Why wasn’t it disqualifying?” was Lauer’s second question of the evening.

Then, when it came time for the military audience to ask questions of their own, the first for Clinton, from a retired naval officer, was brutal. “Secretary Clinton, how can you expect those such as myself who were and are entrusted with America’s most sensitive information to have any confidence in your leadership as president when you clearly corrupted our national security?”

Ouch. Clinton argued that she did not send or receive emails with a header marked “TOP SECRET” or the like. Maybe voters will find that convincing, and maybe they won’t. But it was a rocky start.

The next question, from Lauer, was about Clinton’s vote in 2003 to authorize the Iraq War.

Actually, her most damning failures involve Libya and the Middle East while she was Secretary of State.

Plus: “In a number of presidential elections in recent decades, especially races between two non-incumbents, the candidate with less governmental experience, especially less national government experience, won.”

That’s because our governing class has had a dreadful record for quite some time now. The troubling question is why things don’t get better in that regard.