NEW YORK (AP) — Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo, one of the moderators for Tuesday's Republican presidential debate, says that while she wants to help viewers understand the differences between candidates, she's not looking to start brawls.
The fourth GOP debate — and first since a CNBC session left candidates grumbling about the journalists asking questions — takes place Tuesday night in Milwaukee. Bartiromo, FBN's Neil Cavuto and Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Gerard Baker will guide the two-hour discussion starting at 9 p.m. EDT.
It's also an opportunity for the relatively little-noticed business network, which will try to push its coverage in front of as many viewers as possible.
"You want to draw out the differences, but I don't think you need to draw (them) out taking somebody's head off and having a fight," Bartiromo said on Monday. "That does make good television but it's not really helping the viewer."
A tone was set from the beginning of the CNBC debate, when candidates were asked to reveal their greatest weakness and moderator John Harwood asked Donald Trump if he was running "a comic-book version of a presidential campaign."
The Republican National Committee reacted by pulling its sponsorship for an upcoming NBC News debate and some campaigns tried to wrest control of the debate process from the committee. There was a backlash, with President Obama wondering how the candidates would be able to face the nation's adversaries if they thought debate moderators were too tough.
Bartiromo said she believed that her former employers at CNBC exhibited a hostility toward and disdain for the candidates. She said it was a useful reminder that the purpose of debates is to educate voters.
By David Bauder.
Full story at Yahoo News.
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