Politics & Government

Obama, Romney Campaigns Concerned About Candy Crowley

Both camps question how the debate moderator has publicly described her role.

[Editor's note: The debate will begin at 6:00 p.m. on the West Coast.]

The day before the presidential debate descends upon Hofstra University, both campaigns are calling the debate moderator's role into question, according to TIME.

Mark Halperin writes:

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While an early October memorandum of understanding between the Obama and Romney campaigns suggests CNN’s Candy Crowley would play a limited role in the Tuesday-night session, Crowley, who is not a party to that agreement, has done a series of interviews on her network in which she has suggested she will assume a broader set of responsibilities. As Crowley put it last week, “Once the table is kind of set by the town-hall questioner, there is then time for me to say, ‘Hey, wait a second, what about X, Y, Z?’”

The debate at Hofstra differs from the other three in that questions will be driven by audience members, not the moderator.

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According to the town-hall format language in the agreement, after each audience question and both two-minute responses from the candidates, Obama and Romney are expected to have an additional discussion facilitated by Crowley.

The town-hall debate is planned for Tuesday at 9 p.m. (6:00 p.m. PT) at Hofstra University in Hempstead.

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