Donald Trump may be the master of the art of the deal (as his instructive tome on the subject would lead you to believe) but Chuck Todd, host of NBC's "Meet the Press" and the network's political director, is the master of the art of the debate question.
He and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow got rave reviews for their moderation of the Democratic debate last Thursday between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for employing the technique of, as POLITICO's Hadas Gold put it, letting the candidates do the talking.
"I think that's mistake some of our friends at FOX in particular have made," Todd said. "They have not allowed a debate to take place—they've done a series of candidate interviews with them onstage."
Todd acknowledged that he and Maddow were especially lucky to only have two candidates to address question to—and each of those questions was planned meticulously.
"We went back to every one of our questions and said: 'are these interview questions, or are these debate questions?'" Todd said. "You've got to remember: you're not interviewing them."
Other highlights of the conversation included:
"She wants to be a critic of Wall Street, but a responsible critic." - @chucktodd on @HillaryClinton
"My 11-year-old is obsessed with having a woman president." - @chucktodd
"I have noticed a different Trump since Iowa, he has been humbled." - @chucktodd
Chuck Todd is host of NBC's "Meet the Press" and Political Director of NBC News. To hear more from Todd, tune into Boston Public Radio above.
