MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, set to moderate a Democratic presidential forum in South Carolina tomorrow, says if things go well she won’t end up being the story–like CNBC’s presidential debate moderators did.
“Hopefully the ideal headline does not have me in it because it means I have not become part of the story,” Maddow told the Charlotte Observer. “I want voters in the South … to learn something that’s going to help them make their decision.”
The forum, dubbed the “First in the South Presidential Forum,” includes Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley. But Maddow stresses it will not be a debate. “I am not allowed to put these candidates on the stage at the same time. I have to talk to them sequentially, one on one.”
She can, however, attempt to ask tough questions. “My guiding principle on these things is I try to ask questions that I can’t predict the answer to. I want to get them off of their talking points, off of their stump speeches, out of their comfort zone.”
Maddow will host her show tonight from the Winthrop campus in Rock Hill, S.C.