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| Martha Raddatz: vice-presidential debate host faces a new assignment | Martha Raddatz: vice-presidential debate host faces a new assignment |
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| On Martha Raddatz's resumé alone, the veteran ABC News correspondent could be just as well qualified as one of the vice-presidential candidates, rather than merely the moderator of tonight's debate between Paul Ryan and Joe Biden. | On Martha Raddatz's resumé alone, the veteran ABC News correspondent could be just as well qualified as one of the vice-presidential candidates, rather than merely the moderator of tonight's debate between Paul Ryan and Joe Biden. |
| Raddatz's list of international assignments and reporting achievements makes some secretaries of state seem like work-shy stay-at-homes. Raddatz's role for ABC News and other employers such as NPR has seen her criss-cross the globe in the wake of American foreign policy. | Raddatz's list of international assignments and reporting achievements makes some secretaries of state seem like work-shy stay-at-homes. Raddatz's role for ABC News and other employers such as NPR has seen her criss-cross the globe in the wake of American foreign policy. |
| For all that, Thursday night's VP debate may be Raddatz's toughest assignment yet. The bullets may not fly in Danville, Kentucky as they did in Mosul and Sadr City during Raddatz's 21 trips to Iraq. But the metaphorical flak surrounding such debates can be wounding to a distinguished career, as Jim Lehrer was reminded after he moderated last week's meeting of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. | For all that, Thursday night's VP debate may be Raddatz's toughest assignment yet. The bullets may not fly in Danville, Kentucky as they did in Mosul and Sadr City during Raddatz's 21 trips to Iraq. But the metaphorical flak surrounding such debates can be wounding to a distinguished career, as Jim Lehrer was reminded after he moderated last week's meeting of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. |
| Raddatz has no experience running the kind of high-stakes national contest that Biden and Ryan will engage in tonight, although she once moderated a Massachusetts US senate debate. Then again, Lehrer had already hosted 11 presidential debates and his experience didn't help him much after he appeared to cede control of the format to an aggressive Romney. The narrow focus of Lehrer's questions also came in for criticism from Democrats – although a stronger performance by Obama would have muted much of it in retrospect. | Raddatz has no experience running the kind of high-stakes national contest that Biden and Ryan will engage in tonight, although she once moderated a Massachusetts US senate debate. Then again, Lehrer had already hosted 11 presidential debates and his experience didn't help him much after he appeared to cede control of the format to an aggressive Romney. The narrow focus of Lehrer's questions also came in for criticism from Democrats – although a stronger performance by Obama would have muted much of it in retrospect. |
| Raddatz, 59, shouldn't be easily intimidated, given her track record. She began working for WCVB in Boston, before becoming NPR's Pentagon correspondent in 1993. In 1999 she shifted to ABC News as state department correspondent and then became senior national security correspondent in 2003, a post that required extensive reporting from war-torn Iraq. | Raddatz, 59, shouldn't be easily intimidated, given her track record. She began working for WCVB in Boston, before becoming NPR's Pentagon correspondent in 1993. In 1999 she shifted to ABC News as state department correspondent and then became senior national security correspondent in 2003, a post that required extensive reporting from war-torn Iraq. |
| The posting in Baghdad led Raddatz to write a book, The Long Road Home, a detailed account of a platoon of American soldiers trapped and besieged by Shia militia in Sadr City, in a two-day battle that saw eight US soldiers killed including Casey Sheehan, the son of the anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. | The posting in Baghdad led Raddatz to write a book, The Long Road Home, a detailed account of a platoon of American soldiers trapped and besieged by Shia militia in Sadr City, in a two-day battle that saw eight US soldiers killed including Casey Sheehan, the son of the anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. |
| Raddatz became ABC's White House correspondent during the second term of the Bush administration. By the end of 2008 she was named to the prestigious role of senior foreign affairs correspondent. | Raddatz became ABC's White House correspondent during the second term of the Bush administration. By the end of 2008 she was named to the prestigious role of senior foreign affairs correspondent. |
| Raddatz is only the sixth woman to moderate or co-moderate a presidential or vice-presidential debate. Her selection caused a minor controversy earlier this week when a conservative website, the Daily Caller, highlighted the fact that Barack Obama had attended her wedding in 1991 to one of his Harvard Law School classmates, Julius Genachowski – who Obama later appointed as head of the Federal Communications Commission. | Raddatz is only the sixth woman to moderate or co-moderate a presidential or vice-presidential debate. Her selection caused a minor controversy earlier this week when a conservative website, the Daily Caller, highlighted the fact that Barack Obama had attended her wedding in 1991 to one of his Harvard Law School classmates, Julius Genachowski – who Obama later appointed as head of the Federal Communications Commission. |
| Genachowski and Raddatz divorced 15 years ago, and ABC News and figures across the political spectrum and media came to Raddatz's defence. More importantly, Paul Ryan's campaign said it had "no concerns" about the connection. | Genachowski and Raddatz divorced 15 years ago, and ABC News and figures across the political spectrum and media came to Raddatz's defence. More importantly, Paul Ryan's campaign said it had "no concerns" about the connection. |
| That brief squib having passed, Raddatz will join Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill of PBS as women who have moderated a VP debate. Later this month Candy Crowley of CNN will moderate another meeting between Romney and Obama, joining Pauline Frederick of NPR and Barbara Walters (twice) and Carole Simpson of ABC News as presidential-debate moderators. | That brief squib having passed, Raddatz will join Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill of PBS as women who have moderated a VP debate. Later this month Candy Crowley of CNN will moderate another meeting between Romney and Obama, joining Pauline Frederick of NPR and Barbara Walters (twice) and Carole Simpson of ABC News as presidential-debate moderators. |
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