Presidential Debate Moderators Announced By Commission

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced on Friday the lineup to moderate this year's presidential debates: Lester Holt, Martha Raddatz, Anderson Cooper and Chris Wallace.

Holt, the anchor of the "NBC Nightly News," will moderate the first debate on Sept. 26; Raddatz of ABC News and Cooper of CNN will moderate the town hall debate on Oct. 9; and Wallace of Fox News will moderate the Oct. 19 debate.

CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano will moderate the vice-presidential debate on Oct. 4, and Steve Scully, senior executive producer, White House and political editor for C-SPAN Networks, will serve as backup moderator for all the debates.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are set to face off on Sept. 26, and the two have had much different mindsets when it comes to preparation.

Last week, Clinton was said to be hunkered down for debate preparation because of uncertainty over Trump's style and strategy.

"I'm running against someone who will say or do anything ... and who knows what that might be," Clinton said. "I do not know which Donald Trump will show up."

She added: "Maybe he will try to be presidential and try to convey a gravity that he hasn't done before or will he come in and try to insult and try to score some points."

For his part, Trump, despite being a novice politician, appears to be less concerned over preparing for the debates.

"I believe you can prep too much for those things," Trump told The New York Times. "It can be dangerous. You can sound scripted or phony — like you're trying to be someone you're not."

However, one Trump adviser indicated that Trump's version of debate preparation is more learning.

"His debate prep is Donald Trump sitting around the table with a series of advisers, talking about issues," one Trump adviser said. "As opposed to sitting there reading a briefing book, what he's doing is learning by talking to people."

The commission said that the formats for the debates are intended to build on the ones introduced in 2012, which focused big blocks of time on the nation's major domestic and foreign issues. The first and last debates will be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on major topics to be selected by the moderator and announced at least one week before the debate. The second debate will be a town hall-style debate in which the audience will ask questions directly of the candidates, and some will come from social media, with moderator follow-up questions.

The full debate lineup, via the CPD:

• First presidential debate, Sept. 26: Lester Holt, Anchor, NBC Nightly NewsMonday, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
• Vice presidential debate, Oct. 4: Elaine Quijano, Anchor, CBSN and Correspondent, CBS NewsTuesday, Longwood University, Farmville, Virginia
• Second presidential debate (town meeting), Oct. 9: Martha Raddatz, Chief Global Affairs Correspondent and Co-Anchor of "This Week," ABC Anderson Cooper, Anchor, CNNSunday, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
• Third presidential debate, Oct. 19: Chris Wallace, Anchor, Fox News SundayWednesday, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada

Image via U. S. Naval Forces Central Command