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Gwen Ifill is the moderator and managing editor of "Washington Week with Gwen Ifill & National Journal" and is senior correspondent for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."

Gwen Ifill Moderates the Vice Presidential Debate

Thursday, October 2, 2008 9:00 PM Eastern

Location: Washington University in St. Louis, MO

The Vice Presidential debate at Washington University will be moderated by Gwen Ifill, a highly respected correspondent and moderator for nationally televised public broadcasting news programs on PBS. Ifill, who serves as moderator and managing editor of “Washington Week” and senior correspondent for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” also moderated the 2004 vice presidential debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards, held October 5 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

From the Official Commission on Presidential Debates:

Moderator: Gwen Ifill, Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and Moderator and Managing Editor, Washington Week, PBS

Format

The format for the debates will be:

Each debate will have a single moderator and last for 90 minutes.

In the first and third presidential debates and the vice presidential debate, the candidates will be seated with the moderator at a table.

One presidential debate will focus primarily on domestic policy and one presidential debate will focus primarily on foreign policy. The second presidential debate will be held as a town meeting in which citizens will pose questions to the candidates. The vice presidential debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics.

During the first and third presidential debates, and the vice presidential debate, the time will be divided into eight, ten-minute segments. The moderator will introduce each segment with an issue on which each candidate will comment, after which the moderator will facilitate further discussion of the issue, including direct exchange between the candidates for the balance of that segment.

The participants in the town meeting will pose their questions to the candidates after reviewing their questions with the moderator for the sole purpose of avoiding duplication. The participants will be chosen by the Gallup Organization and will be undecided voters from the Nashville, Tenn. standard metropolitan statistical area. During the town meeting, the moderator has discretion to use questions submitted by Internet.

Time at the end of the final presidential debate will be reserved for closing statements.

Participants

The CPD 2008 Candidate Selection Criteria, announced on November 21, 2007, will be the exclusive means of determining the candidates to be invited to participate in the debates. For more information, please visit www.debates.org.

Gwen also moderated the 2004 Vice Presidential Debate between candidates Dick Cheney and John Edwards. Learn more about that vice presidential debate here. Read the 2004 VP debate transcript.

 


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