Three teenage girls who took on the Commission on Presidential Debates now have some thoughts for the moderators.
Emma Axelrod, Elena Tsemberis and Sammi Siegel, all 16, received attention for a Change.org petition asking the commission to choose a woman to moderate a presidential debate for the first time in 20 years. With CNN’s Candy Crowley hosting the second of three presidential debates on Oct. 16, they got what they asked for.
So now what?
Q: Did you watch last Wednesday’s debate and what did you think of the moderator?
Emma Axelrod: We all watched. I think we were all a little disappointed. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of attention paid to Jim Lehrer when he was trying to be an authority figure in the process.
Elena Tsemberis: The experience made me glad it wasn’t a woman to do the first one. Because then everyone would be all — “Oh, she couldn’t keep things under control because she’s a woman.”
Sammi Siegel: Yeah, it shows people how difficult it is to be a moderator. People think that it’s an easy job. But they have to make sure everything is on track and on time and it’s probably really hard [sighs] to tell the president to stop talking.
EA: Yeah, and Jim Lehrer’s moderated these presidential debates in the past — he’s had a lot of practice and still had trouble. It will be really interesting to see someone who’s never done this before like Candy Crowley. Maybe she’ll have a new approach or just do it in a different way.
Q: Crowley is hosting the second of three debates between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. It’s a town hall format. Do you have any hopes for how she will handle this type of debate?
SS: I hope she learns from Jim Lehrer and sees how much she needs to control the conversation and make sure they answer the questions and not let them segue into different topics.
ET: Initially we were disappointed that it was a town hall debate and she won’t get to ask her own questions. Some people seem to say that she’ll just be walking around with a microphone. But I think it’s more than that. This is the first time in American history that women are moderating 50 percent of the debates, including the vice presidential one this week (ABC News’ Martha Raddatz serves as moderator on Thursday night). I’m just glad we have equal representation.
Q: Are you aware that we have more women running for Congress this election year than any other year in history? What’s your reaction to that?
SS: That’s amazing! I haven’t heard that yet. I’m really happy that women are making sure they’re trying to be equally heard.
EA: Wow, maybe more women will run every year. We really need to get that. I think we should hope for women making up 50 percent of Congress someday. I’m so glad to hear that.
ET: Women have been judged for so long on their appearance rather than their achievements. And hopefully this is a sign that that’s starting to change.
Q: Back to last Wednesday’s debate, what did you think about the topics and the absence of women’s issues in the discussion?
ET: I think — they completely forgot to talk about the other half of the country.
EA: As long as the economy is discussed, I think women and equal pay needs to be discussed too. We still make 77 cents to every dollar a man makes. I think Obama could make more of a case about the Lilly Ledbetter Act.
Q: I understand you all got an award recently by the League of Women’s Voters. What was it called?
[All together]: The young activist award.
Q: The League of Women’s Voters used to sponsor the presidential debates. What was that like for you?
SS: It was really good to be there, I mean they started it all. It’s nice to see that they’re happy and supportive of us.
Q: What has been the most exciting part of this experience so far?
ET: The media experience has been incredible. But the best part was seeing our petition online growing and growing.
EA: Just the day that we found out there would really be a woman moderator — that was exciting! Whether or not we were responsible for that, it shows that the American people were starting to notice.
SS: I was shown how powerful political activism is. The day we went to D.C. to deliver the petition to the presidential debate committee we had reporters all around us, and a press conference.
Q: So, what’s next?
ET: I mean, women still have a long way to go. And this year there are no African American moderators in the debates, both presidential and vice presidential. That’s an issue that needs attention. And women in workplace equality, women are still not getting paid enough in comparison to men. There’s a lot to do[laughs]. It may be us, I don’t know, hopefully someone will.
Q: And what’s been the reaction at school since all of this?
SS: We got a standing ovation when we got back to school. People have been amazingly supportive of us.