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| Candy Crowley's role in debate questioned by Romney and Obama | Candy Crowley's role in debate questioned by Romney and Obama |
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| The Obama and Romney campaigns have contacted the Commission on Presidential Debates to voice concerns over the role of the moderator, Candy Crowley, in Tuesday's second encounter between the two candidates. | The Obama and Romney campaigns have contacted the Commission on Presidential Debates to voice concerns over the role of the moderator, Candy Crowley, in Tuesday's second encounter between the two candidates. |
| The president and his Republican challenger had agreed that the town hall-style debate in Hofstra, New York, would mostly involve them fielding queries from audience members, with limited participation from Crowley, CNN's chief political correspondent. | The president and his Republican challenger had agreed that the town hall-style debate in Hofstra, New York, would mostly involve them fielding queries from audience members, with limited participation from Crowley, CNN's chief political correspondent. |
| Crowley, however, appears to have other ideas, and has given a series of interviews over recent days stating her intention to follow up on audience members questions, rather than merely be "a fly on the wall". | Crowley, however, appears to have other ideas, and has given a series of interviews over recent days stating her intention to follow up on audience members questions, rather than merely be "a fly on the wall". |
| Both candidates reached agreement over the terms of the debate in early October, with a memorandum of the agreement, obtained by Time, showing that Obama and Romney intended for the moderator to have little influence over the topics discussed: | Both candidates reached agreement over the terms of the debate in early October, with a memorandum of the agreement, obtained by Time, showing that Obama and Romney intended for the moderator to have little influence over the topics discussed: |
| "In managing the two-minute comment periods, the moderator will not rephrase the question or open a new topic. … The moderator will not ask follow-up questions or comment on either the questions asked by the audience or the answers of the candidates during the debate or otherwise intervene in the debate except to acknowledge the questioners from the audience or enforce the time limits, and invite candidate comments during the two-minute response period." | "In managing the two-minute comment periods, the moderator will not rephrase the question or open a new topic. … The moderator will not ask follow-up questions or comment on either the questions asked by the audience or the answers of the candidates during the debate or otherwise intervene in the debate except to acknowledge the questioners from the audience or enforce the time limits, and invite candidate comments during the two-minute response period." |
| However as the moderator Crowley, a veteran political journalist who will be the first woman to moderate a presidential debate in 20 years, is not strictly bound by the agreement. Time reported that the agreement between the campaigns merely states that "the commission shall provide each moderator with a copy of this agreement and shall use its best efforts to ensure that the moderators implement the terms of this agreement". | However as the moderator Crowley, a veteran political journalist who will be the first woman to moderate a presidential debate in 20 years, is not strictly bound by the agreement. Time reported that the agreement between the campaigns merely states that "the commission shall provide each moderator with a copy of this agreement and shall use its best efforts to ensure that the moderators implement the terms of this agreement". |
| It appears to have been comments made by Crowley over the past week which have spooked both candidates' campaigns into contacting the commission. Crowley, who anchors CNN's State of the Union programme and has covered US politics since the 1970s, has given repeated interviews insisting she will not simply be holding the microphone when her moment in the spotlight comes on Tuesday. | It appears to have been comments made by Crowley over the past week which have spooked both candidates' campaigns into contacting the commission. Crowley, who anchors CNN's State of the Union programme and has covered US politics since the 1970s, has given repeated interviews insisting she will not simply be holding the microphone when her moment in the spotlight comes on Tuesday. |
| In an on-air discussion with CNN colleague Suzanne Malveaux on Friday 5 October, Crowley said debate moderators "need to take control" on occasion, adding that "you want the conversation to move". Just last week she told the Huffington Post that she would hold Obama and Romney to account, saying she hoped she would be able to "add to this conversation". | In an on-air discussion with CNN colleague Suzanne Malveaux on Friday 5 October, Crowley said debate moderators "need to take control" on occasion, adding that "you want the conversation to move". Just last week she told the Huffington Post that she would hold Obama and Romney to account, saying she hoped she would be able to "add to this conversation". |
| "I hope that I can say: 'Well, now that you've said that, though, doesn't that bring up this?'" | "I hope that I can say: 'Well, now that you've said that, though, doesn't that bring up this?'" |
| On Thursday Crowley gave a further indication of her intentions during a conversation on CNN with Wolf Blitzer. "It's also very hard to evade a question that comes from a town hall person," she said during a discussion of the format and how the candidates will respond. "The nice thing will be if the town hall person asks apples and they answer oranges, I go: 'Wait a second, the question was about apples, let's talk about that.'" | On Thursday Crowley gave a further indication of her intentions during a conversation on CNN with Wolf Blitzer. "It's also very hard to evade a question that comes from a town hall person," she said during a discussion of the format and how the candidates will respond. "The nice thing will be if the town hall person asks apples and they answer oranges, I go: 'Wait a second, the question was about apples, let's talk about that.'" |
| Crowley is to be the first woman since Carole Simpson, in 1992, to moderate a presidential debate and has been subject to huge media attention since the announcement was made. Her appointment came after three teenage girls from New Jersey set up an online petition lobbying for a female moderator which was signed over 100,000 times. | Crowley is to be the first woman since Carole Simpson, in 1992, to moderate a presidential debate and has been subject to huge media attention since the announcement was made. Her appointment came after three teenage girls from New Jersey set up an online petition lobbying for a female moderator which was signed over 100,000 times. |
| But while Crowley's appointment was championed in some quarters as an example of increasing equality, others complained that as the moderator of the town hall debate, Crowley would have less opportunity than other moderators to quiz the candidates. | But while Crowley's appointment was championed in some quarters as an example of increasing equality, others complained that as the moderator of the town hall debate, Crowley would have less opportunity than other moderators to quiz the candidates. |
| Simpson, who was the third woman and first minority to moderate a presidential debate, herself complained about Crowley's assignment in a piece for the Atlantic magazine in September. Simpson said that when she moderated the 1992 debate, which was also town hall style, between Bill Clinton and George H Bush, her role was merely "to hold the microphone for each of the citizen questioners". | Simpson, who was the third woman and first minority to moderate a presidential debate, herself complained about Crowley's assignment in a piece for the Atlantic magazine in September. Simpson said that when she moderated the 1992 debate, which was also town hall style, between Bill Clinton and George H Bush, her role was merely "to hold the microphone for each of the citizen questioners". |
| "Candy Crowley will also moderate the town hall format debate, and she will operate under the same restrictions I had. However, the two male moderators of the other debates will ask their own questions of the candidates, face-to-face, eye-to-eye," Simpson said. | "Candy Crowley will also moderate the town hall format debate, and she will operate under the same restrictions I had. However, the two male moderators of the other debates will ask their own questions of the candidates, face-to-face, eye-to-eye," Simpson said. |
| Crowley has said she that while she understands the concerns of Simpson – who is a close friend – she hopes Tuesday will "add to our collective resume as female journalists". | Crowley has said she that while she understands the concerns of Simpson – who is a close friend – she hopes Tuesday will "add to our collective resume as female journalists". |
| Crowley was born in Michigan on 26 December 1948, but grew up in Missouri, where her father worked in the furniture business. She studied at Principia college in Illinois before transferring to Randolph-Macon woman's college in Lynchburg, Virginia, where she graduated with a degree in English. | Crowley was born in Michigan on 26 December 1948, but grew up in Missouri, where her father worked in the furniture business. She studied at Principia college in Illinois before transferring to Randolph-Macon woman's college in Lynchburg, Virginia, where she graduated with a degree in English. |
| Her first journalism job was as a newsroom assistant with DC-based radio station Wash-FM, and she later became a White House correspondent for the Associated Press, covering most of the Reagan era before moving to NBC News' DC bureau and then onto CNN in 1987. | Her first journalism job was as a newsroom assistant with DC-based radio station Wash-FM, and she later became a White House correspondent for the Associated Press, covering most of the Reagan era before moving to NBC News' DC bureau and then onto CNN in 1987. |
| Although Crowley has covered the presidential campaigns of George Bush senior, George W Bush, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Barack Obama and others, she said she will still be nervous come Tuesday. "I feel pressured, period," she told the Huffington Post. She practises transcendental meditation to deal with stress and has been "getting more bunkerish as time goes on", preparing intensely for the Hofstra event. | Although Crowley has covered the presidential campaigns of George Bush senior, George W Bush, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Barack Obama and others, she said she will still be nervous come Tuesday. "I feel pressured, period," she told the Huffington Post. She practises transcendental meditation to deal with stress and has been "getting more bunkerish as time goes on", preparing intensely for the Hofstra event. |
| For all the pressure and speculation ahead of Tuesday, however, ultimately Crowley knows where the main focus will be. | For all the pressure and speculation ahead of Tuesday, however, ultimately Crowley knows where the main focus will be. |
| "In a way, knowing this debate is all about the candidates is something I tell myself to deal with the stress," she told Politico on Friday. "I tell myself: 'Relax this is about getting these guys to talk. It's not about you.'" | "In a way, knowing this debate is all about the candidates is something I tell myself to deal with the stress," she told Politico on Friday. "I tell myself: 'Relax this is about getting these guys to talk. It's not about you.'" |
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