In the first debate with a different format, allowing for questions from the audience and from the web, the role of moderator was slightly modified. How did Tom Brokaw do? Some reaction:
• The Associated Press’ David Bauder writes, “After Gwen Ifill seemed frustrated at losing control of last week’s vice presidential debate, Tom Brokaw seemed determined not to let that happen.” Bauder described how Brokaw had to act like a “schoolmarm trying to keey unruly students at bay” at times, since “the rules seemed routinely violated.”
• Jessica Heslam writes in the Boston Herald about the strong beginning to the moderating performance. “It started off with potential, with Brokaw telling John McCain and Barack Obama that the world had changed a great deal from the last time they debated,” she wrote. But the candidates seemed determined to change the rules: “‘I’m just the hired help here,’ an exasperated Brokaw said at one point.”
• The Hartford Courant’s Stan Simpson writes, “I like and respect Tom Brokaw, but he lost control of this second presidential debate.” Simpson cited Brokaw’s loosening of the rules as a factor. “Brokaw was too deferential and it resulted in a tepid debate,” he writes.
And click continued to see a Politico compilation of “The Best of Brokaw”…