2012 United States presidential debates

The 2012 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held during the 2012 presidential election.

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a bipartisan organization formed in 1987, organized four debates among the major party candidates, sponsored three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate. Only Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney met the criteria for inclusion in the debates, and thus were the only two to appear in the debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The CPD-sponsored vice presidential debate took place between their respective vice presidential running mates, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.^[1]

The CPD stipulates three criteria for eligibility: constitutionally eligible, appearance on enough ballots to potentially reach 270 electoral votes, and average at least 15% on five selected national polls.^[2] Obama and Romney satisfied all requirements to participate. The moderators for the debates were announced on August 13, 2012.^[3]^[4]

All four debates took place between 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. EDT.^[5] Subsequently, on October 3, both campaigns executed a memorandum of understanding governing technical and administrative details of the debate.^[6] The agreement describes the role of the moderator, rules applicable to each debate, staging and seating arrangements, and ticket distribution, and was signed by Robert Bauer and Benjamin Ginsberg, general counsel of the Obama and Romney campaigns, respectively.^[6]

Several non-CPD sanctioned debates among third party candidates took place. The first, moderated by Larry King and organized by the Free and Equal Elections Foundation, took place on October 23 between Rocky Anderson, Virgil Goode, Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein.^[7] Stein and Johnson were selected using instant-runoff voting for a second Free and Equal debate, which was hosted by RT and took place on November 5.^[8]^[9] Ralph Nader hosted and moderated a debate between Anderson, Stein, Goode, and Johnson on November 4.^[10]

^ Little, Morgan (July 25, 2012) "Presidential debate formats announced, feature town hall", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
^ "Candidate Selection Criteria". Commission on Presidential Debates. Archived from the original on October 2, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
^ Byers, Dylan (August 13, 2012) "Presidential Debate Moderators Announced", Politico. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
^ Blake, Aaron (August 13, 2012) "Presidential debate moderators announced: Crowley is first woman in 20 years", The Washington Post. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
^ "CPD Announces 2012 Debates Format (July 25, 2012)". Debates.org. Archived from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2012.
^ ^a ^b "Candy Crowley's Moderator Role Under Scrutiny Before Tuesday Town Hall – The Page by Mark Halperin – TIME.com". Time. October 14, 2012. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
^ Sullivan, Sean (October 23, 2012). "Third-party presidential candidates rail against Obama and Romney at debate (VIDEO)". Washington Post.
^ Hicks, Josh (October 24, 2012). "Another third party debate in the works". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 1, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
^ "Free and Equal Elections Foundation Changes Presidential Debate to November 5 Due to Hurricane - Free & Equal". Freeandequal.org. October 28, 2012. Archived from the original on November 12, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
^ "Ralph Nader to Host Third-Party Presidential Debate in D.C. Nov. 4" (Press release). Archived from the original on October 27, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2012.

[formats-1] Little, Morgan (July 25, 2012) "Presidential debate formats announced, feature town hall", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 26, 2012.

[2] "Candidate Selection Criteria". Commission on Presidential Debates. Archived from the original on October 2, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2012.

[3] Byers, Dylan (August 13, 2012) "Presidential Debate Moderators Announced", Politico. Retrieved August 13, 2012.

[announced-4] Blake, Aaron (August 13, 2012) "Presidential debate moderators announced: Crowley is first woman in 20 years", The Washington Post. Retrieved August 14, 2012.

[5] "CPD Announces 2012 Debates Format (July 25, 2012)". Debates.org. Archived from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2012.

[autogenerated1-6] "Candy Crowley's Moderator Role Under Scrutiny Before Tuesday Town Hall – The Page by Mark Halperin – TIME.com". Time. October 14, 2012. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved October 17, 2012.

[united-7] Sullivan, Sean (October 23, 2012). "Third-party presidential candidates rail against Obama and Romney at debate (VIDEO)". Washington Post.

[another-8] Hicks, Josh (October 24, 2012). "Another third party debate in the works". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 1, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2012.

[hurricane-9] "Free and Equal Elections Foundation Changes Presidential Debate to November 5 Due to Hurricane - Free & Equal". Freeandequal.org. October 28, 2012. Archived from the original on November 12, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2012.

[10] "Ralph Nader to Host Third-Party Presidential Debate in D.C. Nov. 4" (Press release). Archived from the original on October 27, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2012.

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