[bperiwinkle7]

http://debate.wustl.edu/contact.htm

After making several fruitless calls, I have finally been directed to the above page and am about to hit the phone again.

I have been told that these people have direct input into whether Ifill will indicate that she has a conflict of interest in moderating the debate and releasing her new book.

These people have control over the debate.

[bperiwinkle7]

Actually these people aren’t in their offices yet and it looks to me like they also will not take responsibility for Ifill and her conflict of interest......

[ScreamingGreenAlienGorilla]

Let us know what happens. According to that site, they don't have anything to do with the debate other than hosting it:

Please Note:
Washington University in St. Louis serves as the host venue for the vice presidential debate. All programming content and all conditions governing the debate are the responsibility of the Commission on Presidential Debates, and the University has no involvement in the event itself.

I went to the Commission on Presidential Debates website — I can't find any contact info; if I've missed something, someone please let me know.

http://www.debates.org/index.html

[Desdemona]

Wash U’s control over the debate extends to monopolizing every chrysanthemum in town and telling the frat houses to put the couches inside while there's company on campus. Beyond that, the campaigns have to agree on debate format, moderator, etc. I'm not sure if there's an organization for that or a mediator, but on campus, unless it's Bill Danforth (and then only because of his stature), no one has any say in the format, participants, etc.