SALON

Tuesday, Oct 16, 2012 6:45 PM UTC

Questions and answers on 2nd presidential debate

By

Topics: From the Wires,

WASHINGTON (AP) — Think of Tuesday night’s presidential debate as a championship fight rematch.

Republican challenger Mitt Romney won the first bout, as President Barack Obama failed to counterpunch.

Then came what’s known in boxing as the undercard, the vice presidential debate. Incumbent Joe Biden came out swinging at the opening bell, although GOP challenger Paul Ryan counterpunched just as hard. Obama-Biden supporters were relieved.

The Obama campaign promises the president will be more aggressive Tuesday. But this time the candidates and the moderator won’t be the only people in the ring when the 90-minute debate begins at 9 p.m. EDT.

Q. Why is that?

A. Continuing a format that began 20 years ago, this is the “town hall” debate where people representing a cross-section of America get to ask the questions.

Q. Can people in the audience simply raise their hands and be called upon at random?

A. No. That’s one thing that changed since the first presidential town hall debate in 1992, when questions and questioners weren’t screened beforehand.

Q. So how does the screening work?

A. The Gallup polling organization picks about 80 uncommitted voters. Those voters will work with moderator Candy Crowley of CNN, and she decides who in the group will get to ask a question. Crowley said she and a small team of helpers will try to get as broad a range of questions as possible and nobody else will know the questions in advance.

Q. How did Gallup choose the participants?

A. They were recruited as part of a random sample of all residents living in Nassau County, N.Y. Each resident contacted was asked a series of questions. Those who met the criteria as uncommitted voters were invited to participate.

Q. Will the candidates be seated?

A. They’ll have chairs, but will spend most of their time as close as possible to the audience, walking around and looking directly at the questioner. Think of it as trying to connect with citizens who are there to represent millions of Americans watching on television.

Q. How will the audience be seated?

A. The group of 80 will be in three rows of circular risers facing the candidates, with an open space in the middle. Off camera, there will be a larger audience in the arena at Hofstra University in Hempstead on New York’s Long Island.

Q. In the presidential and vice presidential debates so far, one candidate got the first question and the other candidate had the last word. Will that change Tuesday night?

A. Yes. There are no opening and closing statements. Romney gets the first question. Each candidate is supposed to have two minutes to respond, after which Crowley will facilitate a two-minute discussion. If the earlier debates are an indication, don’t expect the candidates to stick to those strict time limits.

Q. Wasn’t there an attempt to limit the moderator’s role in this debate?

A. Yes. The two campaigns came to an understanding that Crowley’s role should be limited, so that she wouldn’t use the discussion period to introduce a new topic or rephrase a question.

Q. Will that affect the debate?

A. No. The campaigns left two crucial entities out of the agreement: Crowley and the Commission on Presidential Debates, which runs the debate program. Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., co-chairman of the commission, said: “I don’t care what it says since we’re not party to it.”

More Larry Margasak.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Who is "Company Doe"? Corporations accused of wrongdoing win battle to keep identities secret
31 points32 points | comment
vote
"Slave descendants seek equal rights from Cherokee Nation": long, detailed narrative of legal and historical complications in red-white-black relations
27 points28 points | 1 comment
vote
Who is "Company Doe"? Corporations accused of wrongdoing win battle to keep identities secret
4 points5 points | comment
vote
Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer - I think that crackdown is ideologically driven and I think it’s hard to come to a different conclusion given the vigor with which this justice department has gone after people. So I think it is about a method of control that is badly misplaced.
1 point2 points | 6 comments
vote
So apparently the American government can weaponize the weather...
4 points5 points | 1 comment

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations