madame moderator.

so, while i was all wrapped up in my own olympics aftermath,
the world continued turning, & stuff happened.

for example, on august 13th, cnn chief political correspondent candy crowley
was named as moderator of the second 2012 general election presidential debates,
making her the first woman in 20 years to be chosen for the prestigious role.

crowley will moderate the only townhall-style presidential debate between
president barack obama & republican presidential candidate mitt romney.
the debate is scheduled for tuesday, october 16th at new york's hofstra university.

candy crowley's selection may have been in large part due to
the efforts of three 16yo girls from new jersey.
emma axelrod, sammi siegel & elena tsemberis of montclair, nj,
launched a change.org petition calling for a female journalist to moderate
the presidential debates. their petition gathered more than 180,000 signatures,
& apparently, the commission on presidential debates noticed.

"having the support of [1992 moderator] carole simpson,
senator [kirsten] gillibrand & representative [carolyn] maloney — powerful women
who are heroes to many — underscored for us how important
this campaign was to wage," said tsemberis. "this campaign wasn't
about partisan politics, or liberal or conservative issues.
this was about equal representation, regardless of political party."

the other presidential debate moderators are
pbs newshour's jim lehrer & cbs face the nation's bob schieffer;
abc's martha raddatz will moderate the vice-presidential debate.


image source: vegetarian star.