The moderator for Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate is getting a thumbs down by her peers in the media for not being more aggressive with the candidates, especially Republican Mike Pence.
Elaine Quijano, a CBS digital news anchor, took a largely hands-off approach to the one and only vice presidential debate, allowing Pence and Democrat Tim Kaine a more “open discussion.”
Others in the media were dissatisfied with her performance.
“[S]he is to blame for preventing real debate, and for allowing Mike Pence to pretend he isn’t running on a ticket with Donald Trump,” said liberal writer Isaac Chotiner at Slate.
CNN media reporter Dylan Byers said Quijano “lost control” of the debate and “stopped the candidates when they were in the middle of a good discussion and failed to stop them when they were simply talking over one another.”
Glenn Thrush, Politico’s top political correspondent, said her “inexperience” showed.
Quijano was rarely seen on camera, even when she spoke. She asked almost no follow-up questions, did not fact-check the candidates and re-directed the candidates to address specific questions only a couple times when they wandered off topic.
Her style was in direct contrast to last week’s presidential debate, moderated by NBC News anchor Lester Holt, who was far more aggressive in following up on topics. He asked Donald Trump roughly seven follow-ups to Hillary Clinton’s one. Holt also rebutted Trump on several occasions, attempting to fact-check him live.
Kaine spent much of the debate repeatedly challenging Pence to answer for controversial marks Trump has made throughout the campaign, such as calling some Mexican illegal immigrants “rapists.”
Pence almost exclusively met those challenges by shaking his head and pivoting to an attack against Clinton or Kaine.
Quijano did not interject to side with Kaine, though at some points when Kaine was attacking Pence, she redirected the debate to a new topic.
“[Lester] Holt was looking better in hindsight,” wrote Politico media reporter Hadas Gold.
