CNN moderators in Biden-Trump debate: It almost didn't matter that they were on stage

NEW YORK (AP) — To a large extent, it almost didn't matter that Dana Bash and Jake Tapper were on stage.

The two CNN journalists prepared meticulously to moderate Thursday's presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the first ever between a sitting president and his predecessor, and asked several sharp questions.

Not only were many of them ignored, but the impression that some Americans were left with about President Biden's fitness for the job essentially had nothing to do with Bash and Tapper or their involvement in the program.

“There's no question this was not what the Biden campaign wanted or needed,” said ABC's Mary Bruce. After the debate, CNN's John King pointed to his cell phone, saying he hadn't seen anything like the concern expressed to him in text messages as the debate went on.

“There's a full-on panic about this performance,” said NBC's Chuck Todd.

The event, organized by CNN and broadcast over most of the country's main news and broadcast networks, was the earliest general election debate ever, before the two candidates had been formally nominated by their parties.

*Did the moderators play a role?*

Tapper and Bash asked about the economy, the war in Ukraine, climate change, the border, election denial — a litany of issues that most Americans, in polls, say they are most concerned about heading into the 2024 election.

Their problem was that, more times than not, the questions were ignored as the two candidates continued to squabble at their own pace.

“You have 67 seconds left,” Tapper said to Trump when he didn't address one. “The question was, what are you going to do to help Americans in the throes of (opioid) addiction right now to get the treatment that they need?”

“This does pertain to it,” Trump said, moving on to talk about open...