Here we go again – is the debate moderator the story?

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CNN’s Candy Crowley, the moderator for Tuesday’s town hall-style debate, has apparently ruffled some feathers in the Mitt Romney and Barack Obama camps.
In an interview on CNN, Crowley said: “Once the table is kind of set by the town hall questioner (from the audience), there is then time for me to say, 'Hey, wait a second, what about X, Y, Z?’''

Mark Halperin of Time reports that both campaigns say those and other comments by Crowley conflict with the language the two camps agreed to for the second debate. Those rules, which Crowley never agreed to, describe a limited role for the moderator of the town hall debate.

Here’s how Halperin summarizes this little pre-debate dust-up:
"The questioning of the two candidates is supposed to be driven by the audience members themselves -- likely voters selected by the Gallup Organization...On October 5, the two campaign counsels, Bob Bauer for President Obama and Ben Ginsberg of the Romney campaign, jointly reached out to the Commission (on Presidential Debates) to express concern that the moderator's comments seemed in direct conflict with the terms of their agreement. The commission sent back word that they would discuss the matter with Crowley and reconfirm her function. It is not known if such a conversation has taken place, however."

No follow-up questions? No attempt to clarify? Isn’t that what generated such condemnation of moderator Jim Lehrer in the first debate? In the vice presidential debate, moderator Martha Raddatz was blasted by Republican operatives for being too quick to cut off long-winded answers – until they realized that most of the nation disagreed with them.
It's worth noting that this bit of juvenile behavior by the two campaigns comes as Crowley is about to become the first female moderator of a presidential debate in two decades. It should also be said that those two female moderators were both squeezed into a town hall format.


So, now we have both candidates altering their debate prep just in case Crowley, who can be described as nothing more than a pro when it comes to interviewing politicians, decides that she doesn’t want spin and talking points to pass for a real answer by Romney or Obama.

Again, here’s a part of Halperin’s report:
"Sources say both campaigns are preparing their candidates for the debate under the assumption that Crowley might play a bigger role than either they or the commission want or envision. At the same time, some officials familiar with the deliberations of the campaigns say they hope that by publicizing the expectations for what the moderator should do in the town hall session, and making public the language in the (agreement), Crowley will be less likely to overstep their interpretation of her role. One key source Sunday afternoon expressed confidence that, despite Crowley's remarks on CNN, the moderator would perform on Tuesday night according to the rules agreed to by the two campaigns."

That’s a shame. I say, don’t give them sweetness and light, Candy.