Commission on Presidential Debates

On TVNewser, Alissa Krinsky breaks the news that Gwen Ifill broke her ankle Monday night falling down the stairs in her home while carrying "research related to her moderating duties at Thursday's Vice Presidential debate in St. Louis."

According to TV Newser, despite the injury, Ms. Ifill will still moderate Thursday's debate.

Odd coincidence: According to Wasilla legend, when Sarah Palin was in high school she prevailed in a pivotal basketball game despite having to play on a broken ankle.

Senator John McCain's staff has just announced that the Republican presidential nominee will participate in tonight's much anticipated debate with Senator Barack Obama in Oxford, Mississippi.

So what happens if Senator John McCain actually skips tomorrow night's highly anticipated first presidential debate?

Marisa Guthrie of Broadcasting & Cable posed the question to a number of TV executives.

"If McCain does decide to forgo the debate, it will not be easy to reschedule," writes Ms. Guthrie. "The planning and security make it all but impossible to relocate the debate to a different date or venue. Television time is negotiated months in advance. And with the broadcast networks in the thick of fall premieres, finding an acceptable alternative to roadblock hours of TV time would be very difficult."  read more »

Senator John McCain announced today that he and his staff are working behind the scenes to try and postpone Friday's debate with Senator Barack Obama due to the ongoing crisis in the financial markets.

The highly anticipated first showdown between the candidates is scheduled to take place at the University of Mississippi on 9 p.m. Friday night and will focus on national security and foreign policy issues. PBS's Jim Lehrer is scheduled to moderate.

From the Associated Press's article:

In a statement, McCain says he will stop campaigning after addressing former President Bill Clinton's Global Initiative session on Thursday and return to Washington to focus on the nation's financial problems.

McCain also said he wants President Bush to convene a leadership meeting in Washington. Both he and Obama would attend the session.

Today executives with News Corporation's MySpace announced that they have formed a partnership with the Commission on Presidential Debates to create MyDebates.org—a site that will include a downloadable application capable, in part, of streaming the fall presidential and vice presidential debates live. 

Yesterday, the commission announced the slate of moderators for the fall debates, which will include PBS's Jim Lehrer, NBC's Tom Brokaw, PBS's Gwen Ifill, and CBS's Bob Schieffer. It's an esteemed group. But also one that's somewhat long in the tooth.

Back in April, we wrote about Google's frustrated attempts to team up with the commission on some sort of new media debate.  read more »

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced today the roster of moderators for the three presidential and one vice-presidential debates coming up this fall.

PR Newswire has the details:

First presidential debate
Friday, September 26
The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss.
Jim Lehrer
Executive Editor and Anchor, The NewsHour, PBS

Vice presidential debate
Thursday, October 2
Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
Gwen Ifill
Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and Moderator and Managing Editor,
Washington Week, PBS

Second presidential debate (town meeting)
Tuesday, October 7
Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn.
Tom Brokaw
Special Correspondent, NBC News

Third presidential debate
Wednesday, October 15
Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.
Bob Schieffer
CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent, and Host, Face the Nation

Not on the list: Katie Couric, who was the only broadcast evening news anchor not to moderate a single debate in this year's primary season.  read more »

During the prolonged political primary season this year, CBS News was the only major American commercial network news division not to successfully sponsor a single debate. But it looks like CBS execs are trying to get an early jump on the general election.

To wit: yesterday Veterans for Common Sense--a consortium of military and veteran nonprofit groups--announced that they are teaming up with CBS News to sponsor and produce a town hall forum, focusing on issues facing the military and veteran communities.

According to yesterday's release, CBS News and their partners have invited Senators Barack Obama and John McCain to participate in the event, which would take place at the Bell County Expo Center in Belton, Texas (near the Fort Hood military base), at 9 p.  read more »

Over the weekend, Michael Bloomberg and ABC News invited Barack Obama and John McCain to debate each other in a 90-minute town hall showdown, which would be broadcast live in primetime from Federal Hall.

ABC's Good Morning America anchor Diane Sawyer—who did not get the opportunity to moderate a debate in the primaries—would host the town hall meeting.

Both campaigns have since indicated that they would be willing to participate in the event in New York City, but did not want ABC to solely control the broadcast.

The invitation marks the second time this year that a major media company has attempted to sponsor a debate without the blessing of the Commission on Presidential Debates—a non-partisan, D.C.-based organization, which has more or less maintained a monopoly on organizing general election debates for the past 20 years.  read more »

On Friday, before he got sidetracked, Senator Barack Obama suggested that he might bow out of a proposed April 27 debate in North Carolina to be hosted by CBS News and moderated by Katie Couric and Bob Schieffer, reports the Charlotte Observer.

"In a telephone interview with the Observer to discuss his economic plan, Obama doubted whether a proposed April 27 debate at Raleigh's RBC Center would fit with his schedule," reports the Charlotte Observer.  read more »

Nation columnist and prolific debater Eric Alterman is the new Judith Miller! Or, maybe not. At the Democratic debates last night, Alterman was apparently arrested (briefly!) for "criminal trespass" at an open bar. 

From CNN.com:  read more »

Chuck Schumer wants to see a presidential debate at Hofstra. The Nassau-based school applied to host one of the presidentail debates recently which, if successful, might bring Hillary Clinton or Rudy Giuliani back to debate in front of their home crowd.

In letters to the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean, and the Commission on Presidential Debates, Schumer said:

Hofstra University is one of only two candidates in the Northeast. In fact, New York has not hosted a debate since 1960 when John F. Kennedy and then Vice-President Richard M. Nixon met in a Manhattan television studio.

The letters are after the jump.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Hofstra University is New York's only hope for playing host to a 2008 presidential debate.

Of the 19 formal applications sent to the Commission on Presidential Debates from around the country, only one, according to a statement sent out by the Long Island university, will give Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani the chance to play on their home field.

Hofstra is proposing its David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex as the venue for the debate.

UPDATE: Political consultant Joseph Mercurio isn't sold on the idea of a presidential debate on Long Island:

"It's a more affluent, more educated, more conservative version of New York City," he said, "but it's no Iowa."

--Jason Horowitz