Following growing calls for a woman moderator of a presidential debate, Candy Crowley has been tapped to lead the debate at Hofstra University on Oct. 16, organizers announced on Monday.
It will be the second time the Hempstead university hosts a presidential debate and the first time since Carole Simpson moderated the debate in 1992 that a woman will lead the show.
Crowley is CNN's chief political correspondent and hosts the 24-hour news network's Sunday talk show, State of the Union with Candy Crowley, which she inherited from CNN anchor John King in 2010.
"As someone who is in awe and grateful every day to be in a country where freedom of the press, free speech and free elections are a way of life, I am wowed, amazed and excited by the opportunity to moderate a 2012 presidential debate," Crowley said in a statement.
The Hofstra debate will also be the only town hall presidential debate of this election year, a format where questions are taken directly from voters.
Hofstra is hoping to top its 2008 entry into the presidential debate arena, when journalist Bob Schieffer moderated the debate between future President Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain. The event, which packed the college, was largely seen as a success.
The Commission on Presidential Debates also announced that Jim Lehrer will host the Denver presidential debate on Oct. 3, while Schieffer will host the debate on Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla.
