NEW YORK (AP) — Beneath Bob Schieffer's Southern charm is the tough spine of someone used to dealing with politicians. The moderator of Monday's final presidential debate will need it, because it has been open season on the other journalists who have done that job this campaign.
Thanks to a bitter campaign rivalry, thriving partisan media outlets and the growth of social media, debate moderator is approaching baseball umpire on the scale of thankless jobs.
Jim Lehrer was criticized for not doing enough, Candy Crowley for doing too much and Martha Raddatz worked over about the wedding guest list for a marriage that ended more than a decade ago. Though not unanimously so, the barbs were usually partisan in nature.
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