No opening statements, no audience, and no fact-checking: Rules of the vice presidential debate
By
Jack Birle
September 30, 2024 2:07 pm
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Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) will face off in the lone vice presidential debate on Tuesday evening, and while many of the rules will be the same as the two presidential debates, there will be some key differences.
The 90-minute debate, hosted by CBS, will be held at the network’s studios in New York City and will likely be the final debate of the 2024 cycle for either the presidential or vice presidential candidates. Here are the rules for the debate between Vance and Walz.
No muted mics
The microphones were muted during the two presidential debates, between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in June and between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in September, but for the vice presidential debate, CBS has said the microphones will only be muted at each candidate’s discretion.
The network said it reserves “the right to turn off candidate microphones” but that, unlike the CNN and ABC debates, microphones will not be muted while the other candidate is speaking.
Moderators won’t be fact-checkers
CBS said it will not be fact-checking the candidates. Rather, it will leave it up to the candidates to fact-check each other. The outlet has said it will provide fact-checking live on its website while the debate airs.
The approach by CBS will likely be similar to CNN’s June debate rather than ABC News’s September debate. The fact checks ABC News’s moderators offered in the September debate were criticized for being biased against Trump while not going after Harris’s false statements.
Strict timing for questions and answers
CBS’s Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan will be the only people asking questions during the debate, with each candidate receiving two minutes to answer a question and the other candidate receiving two minutes to respond. Each candidate will also get one minute for rebuttals, with candidates also receiving “an additional minute each to continue a discussion,” at the discretion of O’Donnell and Brennan.
The candidates will not have opening statements, but each will get a two-minute closing statement. A coin toss was held, which Vance won, allowing him to have the second closing statement — meaning he will have the final word between the two candidates.
CBS has said neither Vance nor Walz has been given any of the topics or questions that will be asked at the debate.
Candidates on their feet
The venue for the debate will be a television studio, like the June CNN debate between Biden and Trump, and it similarly will not include a live audience.
Both Vance and Walz will be standing behind podiums for the duration of the debate, while O’Donnell and Brennan will be seated. Vance will be standing on the left, while Walz will be standing on the right. This marks the first time candidates haven’t been sitting for a vice presidential debate since 2008.
At the podium, each candidate will have a pen, paper, and a bottle of water. Candidates will not be allowed to have props or prewritten notes.
The venue will also have a countdown with lights indicating how much time a candidate has left. The light will be green until there are 15 seconds left. At that time, the light will go yellow, and at five seconds left, the light will flash red. Once the clock hits zero, the light will be solid red.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3170879/no-opening-statements-audience-fact-checking-rules-vice-presidential-debate/
