Schieffer Vows to Get Straight Answers in Debate

CBS veteran broadcaster Bob Schieffer has vowed to stand firm when he moderates the final presidential debate tonight, and will press the candidates to answer questions put to them, Politico reports. Jim Lehrer, Gwen Ifill and Tom Brokaw have come under fire for being too easy on candidates in previous televised debates. Schieffer may be aided by an in-your-face format in which he and the candidates will be seated together.

If candidates fail to answer questions, "I'm going to call them on it," Schieffer told the Hollywood Reporter. His former CBS colleague Dan Rather said he believes when a candidate doesn’t answer a question, "at the very least, the moderator needs to say, ‘You didn’t answer the question—even if he has to interrupt." (More Election 2008 stories.)