Time got the agreement between the campaigns for rules for the Townhall debate and, according to that agreement, Crowley's power as moderator is limited and is only supposed to enable her to:
cull the questions submitted by the voters who are invited to attend the debate, and then decide which ones will be asked and in what order.
The agreement specifically forbids her from asking follow-up questions:
As stated in the document, “In managing the two-minute comment periods, the moderator will not rephrase the question or open a new topic … The moderator will not ask follow-up questions or comment on either the questions asked by the audience or the answers of the candidates during the debate or otherwise intervene in the debate except to acknowledge the questioners from the audience or enforce the time limits, and invite candidate comments during the two-minute response period.” The memo, which has been obtained by TIME, was signed by lawyers for the two campaigns on Oct. 3, the day of the first presidential debate in Denver.
So, it sounds like - if Crowley goes along with this, the voter will ask a question and then the President and Romney each will give a two minute answer and then go at each other - with Crowley's help - for a minute on the topic. Crowley is supposed to enforce time limits.
She apparantly, is not playing ball which worries the campaigns. See below.
Crowley seems unfazed by the behind-the-scenes maneuvering. Even after concerns were raised in the wake of the Malveaux interview, Crowley made additional comments that make clear she does not feel bound by any agreement between the commission and the Obama and Romney camps. On Oct. 11, the day of the vice-presidential debate, she told Wolf Blitzer, ”I’m always interested in the questions because you don’t want to — in a debate, you don’t want to go over plowed ground. Now, this is the vice-presidential candidates as opposed to the presidential candidates. So is there room there to come back to a presidential candidate and say, Well, your vice-presidential candidate said this? I’m always kind of looking for the next question … So there’s opportunity for follow-up to kind of get them to drill down on the subjects that these folks want to learn about in the town hall.”
Interesting stuff...
9:42 AM PT: Presidential debate commission's website says that there will be an "additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion." Seems like the campaign's only want the two minutes? This whole thing is kind of strange. See: http://www.debates.org