50 Fun Facts About Presidential Debates

In which year was the first general-election presidential debate held?

Kennedy and Nixon met on September 26 at CBS's WBBM-TV studios in Chicago.

In which city was the first Kennedy-Nixon debate staged?

Howard K. Smith moderated, with a panel from NBC, Mutual, CBS and ABC.

What did Nixon refuse before the first 1960 debate, leaving him with a five o'clock shadow?

His grey suit also blended into the set; he had recently lost weight after a hospital stay.

How many Kennedy-Nixon debates were held in total?

Nixon regained weight, wore makeup and was judged to have won the second and third, but far fewer people tuned in.

Who moderated the first Kennedy-Nixon debate?

Cronkite sat on the panel for the fourth debate instead.

How many years passed between the 1960 debates and the next general-election debates?

Johnson, Nixon and their opponents all declined until Gerald Ford agreed to debate Jimmy Carter in 1976.

The 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates were held during a race for which office?

Douglas kept the Senate seat; the two men never debated when they ran for president in 1860.

How many Lincoln-Douglas debates were there?

Each ran three hours: a one-hour opening, a 90-minute rebuttal and a 30-minute close, with no moderator.

Which 1940 Republican nominee first challenged a sitting president to a debate?

Franklin Roosevelt simply refused.

The first presidential primary debate, on radio in 1948, pitted Thomas Dewey against whom?

The two Republicans met in Oregon ahead of that state's primary.

What happened 81 minutes into the first Ford-Carter debate in 1976?

Both men stood silently at their lecterns for 27 minutes while a blown capacitor was replaced.

Which region did Gerald Ford claim was free of Soviet domination in a 1976 debate?

The gaffe stalled his comeback; Carter won a very close election.

Which organisation sponsored the presidential debates in 1976, 1980 and 1984?

The networks themselves had sponsored the 1960 debates.

Who debated Ronald Reagan in the first 1980 debate after Jimmy Carter refused to appear?

Carter would not share a stage with the independent congressman, and Reagan would not debate without him.

Which phrase did Reagan use to deflect Carter in their single 1980 debate?

He also asked voters whether they were better off than four years earlier.

In which city was the lone Carter-Reagan debate held on October 28, 1980?

It took place at the Music Hall just a week before the election.

What was "Debategate"?

The Reagan campaign's access to Carter's internal materials became public in 1983.

Whose "youth and inexperience" did Reagan promise not to exploit in 1984?

The joke, in the second debate on October 21, defused the age issue after a shaky first debate.

Vice presidential debates have been held in every cycle since which year?

The first, in 1976, was between Bob Dole and Walter Mondale; 1980's was cancelled.

Who told Dan Quayle "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" in the 1988 VP debate?

Dan Quayle had compared his congressional experience to Kennedy's, a line he used routinely on the stump.

Which moderator opened a 1988 debate by asking Dukakis about his wife being murdered?

Dukakis's flat, policy-driven answer on the death penalty was widely seen as damaging.

Where was the first Bush-Dukakis debate held in September 1988?

Viewers were split on who won the Wait Chapel encounter, watched by about 65 million.

What minimum poll share does the Commission on Presidential Debates require for an invite?

The rule is the main reason Libertarian and Green candidates have been shut out since 1992.

Who was the third candidate on stage in all three 1992 debates?

A CNN/USA Today poll rated him the winner of the first debate over Clinton and Bush.

What was George H.W. Bush criticised for doing during a 1992 debate?

Aides first said he was timing the other candidates; he later admitted he wanted to know how much was left.

Which 1992 vice presidential candidate opened with "Who am I? Why am I here?"

Perot's running mate was a Medal of Honor recipient who spent more than seven years as a POW in Hanoi.

Where was the 1992 town-hall debate, the first of its kind, held?

Voters rather than journalists asked the questions on October 15, 1992.

Which school hosted presidential debates in 1992, 2000, 2004 and 2016?

It was also scheduled for 1996 before the candidates cut that year's debates from three to two.

Which network holds the record for moderating the most presidential debates?

Jim Lehrer of PBS alone moderated a dozen debates between 1988 and 2012.

How many commission debates did George W. Bush initially agree to in 2000?

He wanted one commission debate plus hour-long appearances on Meet the Press and Larry King Live before relenting.

Which university hosted the first 2008 debate between Obama and McCain?

Jim Lehrer devoted the first half to the economy because the financial crisis had just erupted.

Who moderated the Palin-Biden vice presidential debate in 2008?

A snap poll found 95 percent of viewers thought she was fair and unbiased.

What was the real name of "Joe the Plumber", invoked repeatedly in the final 2008 debate?

The Ohio man had questioned Obama about taxes on a rope line days earlier.

In which city was the first Obama-Romney debate of 2012, widely judged a Romney win?

A CNN poll gave Romney the edge 67 to 25 percent; Jim Lehrer was criticised for losing control.

What did Mitt Romney say he had received "binders full of" in the 2012 town-hall debate?

He was answering a question about equal pay, describing his hiring as Massachusetts governor.

Who moderated the 2012 town-hall debate between Obama and Romney?

She followed up on candidates' answers and fact-checked Romney live on Benghazi.

How many viewers did the first Clinton-Trump debate draw in 2016, a record?

The figure covers the 13 channels that carried it live and excludes online streams.

Who moderated the first Clinton-Trump debate at Hofstra?

Hofstra stepped in after Wright State withdrew with eight weeks to go, making it host in three straight cycles.

Who became the first Asian American to moderate a general-election debate, in 2016?

She moderated the Kaine-Pence debate at Longwood University, where Kaine interrupted some 70 times.

Who moderated the chaotic first Trump-Biden debate in September 2020?

It was held on a campus shared by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic.

What did Joe Biden say to Trump during the first 2020 debate?

Trump had tested positive for COVID-19 three days earlier, according to his chief of staff's later book.

Why was the second 2020 presidential debate cancelled?

Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis prompted the commission to propose a remote debate, which he declined.

What landed on Mike Pence's head during the 2020 vice presidential debate?

The Biden campaign bought the domain flywillvote.com within hours.

What new rule was added for the final 2020 debate after the first one's interruptions?

Each candidate's mic was cut during the other's two-minute opening answer to each topic.

What was unprecedented about the June 27, 2024 Trump-Biden debate?

Biden's performance was so widely criticised that he ended his campaign on July 21.

Which network produced the September 2024 debate between Trump and Kamala Harris?

Both 2024 presidential debates bypassed the commission and were held with no audience and muted mics.

Which Ohio city did Trump claim had immigrants "eating the dogs" in the 2024 debate?

Moderator David Muir noted there had been no credible reports of pets being harmed.

Which network hosted the Vance-Walz vice presidential debate in October 2024?

Unlike the presidential debates that year, both microphones stayed live while the other spoke.

What typically decides which candidate answers the first question in a debate?

Candidates usually get two minutes to answer and about a minute to rebut.

What do the coloured lights at modern debates signal when they turn red?

Green means 30 seconds remain and yellow 15; a buzzer or flag can follow.