The commission on presidential debates won't release rules for this upcoming debate.
And there seems to be uncertainty about how this will go down. Crowley is going to "select" questions and then they will be asked by citizen voters?
Here's the relevant passage from NPR story:
Tuesday's town hall-style debate at Hofstra University will have an audience of about 80 undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization. Moderator Candy Crowley of CNN will select from among questions on foreign and domestic policy submitted by the audience. The final debate, covering foreign policy, will be Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla.
The voters won't get any follow-up. Each candidate will respond to each question (and only has two minutes). And, then Crowley will moderate follow-up (one minute) to each question.
So, if they follow the rules and you assume 10 minutes of the 90 for opening and closing that leaves 80 minutes and time for 26 questions! Also, the candidates got the topics for the first debate in advance. I wonder if they got the subjects of the questions from the voters in advance?
This is a really weird format and seems to give Crowley a lot of power. It doesn't feel like a real town hall where the voters are driving questions, debates. Seems like they are more like props.
Does anyone have/found more info?