Moderating a political debate requires far more than asking prepared questions. In this episode Tom and Gina speak with an Emmy Award-winning journalist and a moderator of this year’s Clean Elections' primary debates about the preparation, judgment and real-time decision-making required to do the job.

Effective debate moderation helps voters become better informed while demonstrating that people with different political perspectives can still engage in civil, substantive conversations while creating an environment where candidates can move beyond rehearsed talking points.

This episode also gets into how moderators research each candidate and about the intense preparation it takes including in-the-moment follow-up questions and anticipating where candidate responses might take the conversation.

Guest: Danielle Lerner, Emmy Award-winning journalist

Resources:

Watch Clean Elections Archived Debates

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