To mark tonight’s Fox Business-Univision GOP presidential primary debate, today’s TVNewser In-Profile has a Fox flair.
Dana Perino recently received the New York Times and Vanity Fair profile treatments, while Stuart Varney sat down with the Los Angeles Times. Perino and Varney are co-moderating the debate, along with Noticiero Univision anchor Ilia Calderón.
In her discussion with the Times, Perino said she felt the most recent debate, co-moderated by colleagues Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, wasn’t particularly successful for the candidates because they spent so much time interrupting each other.
“The candidates made a decision to break the rules, and to talk over each other,” she said.
Perino added that she won’t shy away from interrupting the candidates, if necessary.
“I’m happy to be that. I think that for them, they should not want that either, right, because it didn’t help them. If you think about that debate, there was no consensus of who won,” said Perino.
She also spoke with Vanity Fair about the upcoming debate, saying of the non-Trump GOP candidates, “They had a chance to make a first impression, and likely didn’t make too much of a dent. And that’s reflected in the polling.”
According to VF, Trump continues to dominate by a wide margin, hitting a record high of 58.8% in national support this week, with his lead over candidates like Ron DeSantis only growing. “Where do they go from here, in terms of having a breakout moment?” Perino asks rhetorically. “Remains to be seen.”
The anchor of the mid-morning Fox Business program Varney & Co., Stuart Varney spoke with the L.A. Times leading up to his first presidential primary debate as a moderator.
Among other things, Varney was asked about his preparation for the debate and working with Calderón.
In preparing for this debate with “Noticiero Univision” co-anchor Ilia Calderón, who works alongside Jorge Ramos, a tremendous advocate for the Latino community on the immigration issue. I’m wondering if you’ve gotten any new insights into the situation at the southern border.
We’re looking for new voice in a presidential debate, and Ilia will supply that new voice.
But have you talked to her about the immigration issue and approaching it perhaps in a different way than we see it reported on Fox News?
Well, I’ve talked about it a lot on my program, and I believe it will come up in the debate. How it comes up is another story. Ilia will have a lot to say about that.