Don't Let Candidates Dodge Questions

The emerging consensus about Thursday night's vice presidential debate is that there was a high degree of professionalism on the stage. Why? Martha Raddatz kept the candidates on point -- and on time. Contrast her command with what we saw from Jim Lehrer in the first presidential debate. It did not take an expert in debate analysis to observe that the candidates seemed to wrest control of the debate from the moderator at times. Raddatz, on the other hand, frequently interrupted the candidates when they spoke too long. She asked pointed, specific questions, and often repeated them for good measure. Perhaps most important, she often (though not always) pushed the candidates to answer direct questions when they were being evasive.