Susan Page ‘Felt Good’ About Pence-Harris Debate: It Was ‘Relatively Civil’

Washington Bureau Chief of USA Today Susan Page is confident about how she chose to moderate the first vice presidential debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Wednesday night.

Page told The Washington Post, “I felt good about how it went. I felt it was a relatively civil debate, and one that was focused on issues that mattered to voters.”

She received criticism following the debate for not being able to stop Harris and Pence from interrupting each other and for not asking follow up questions when they refused to answer questions.

Page defended her approach to moderating the debate during an interview with CNN’s John Berman.

“I think the goal of the moderator is to try, in my view, ask a narrow question in the hope of getting an answer. That was often less successful than I’d hope,” Page said.

She added, “And then let the candidates take it over and debate among themselves. It is a debate among them that I was trying to facilitate. People criticize me for that and fair enough, different approaches I guess, but that was the approach that I took.”

Check out her remarks below:

Berman asked Page what lessons she took from how Fox News’ Chris Wallace moderated the first presidential debate.

She told Berman it made her a little more “aggressive,” and she opted to speak longer, in the beginning, to lay out the exact rules both campaigns agreed to.