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**Written by Doug Powers

As you might have guessed, the lineup is chock full of right-leaning names. But enough about the speakers at the GOP convention. Let’s talk about the presidential and vice-presidential debates.

The list of moderators has been released, and all I can say is that Chris Matthews and Anna Wintour must have had prior engagements in October:

Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr. and Michael D. McCurry, co-chairmen of the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), today announced the moderators for the 2012 general election presidential and vice presidential debates. The moderators, and the schedule and locations for the debates (as announced on October 31, 2011), are as follows:

First presidential debate:

Jim Lehrer, Executive Editor of the PBS NewsHour
Wednesday, October 3, University of Denver, Denver, CO

Vice presidential debate:

Martha Raddatz, Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent, ABC News
Thursday, October 11, Centre College, Danville, KY

Second presidential debate (town meeting):

Candy Crowley, Chief Political Correspondent, CNN and Anchor, CNN’s State of the Union
Tuesday, October 16, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY

Third presidential debate:

Bob Schieffer, Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS News and Moderator, Face the Nation
Monday, October 22, Lynn University, Boca Raton, FL

Predicted opening question from Candy Crowley: “Governor Romney, was your choice of Paul Ryan to be your running mate some sort of ticket death wish, as some have speculated?”

Could there be an opportunity in this for the Republican side? If so it’s nice of the debate organizers to give the GOP such an opportunity every election cycle.

Information on the debate formats here.

**Written by Doug Powers

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