Presidential elections are determined by a few important moments and most of those moments happen during presidential debates.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, where Janet Brown serves as Executive Director, and co-chairs Frank Fahrenkopf and Mike McCurry rule,  announced their slate of moderators for the 2012 debates.   You can bet both campaigns are already pulling tapes of their interviews and previous debate performances to prepare for this years.  A hat tip to Martha Raddatz who’s war coverage will be great preparation for her role in the Vice Presidential Debate between VP Joe Biden and the newly named running mate to Mitt Romney, Rep. Paul Ryan.  There will be several changes to format which you can read about in the official announcement here.

Fahrenkopf and McCurry quotes from the release, “The new formats chosen for this year’s debates are designed to focus big time blocks on major domestic and foreign topics.  These journalists bring extensive experience to the job of moderating, and understand the importance of using the expanded time periods to maximum benefit.  We are grateful for their willingness to moderate, and confident that the public will learn more about the candidates and the issues as a result.”

This year’s debates – for the first time – will be available LIVE on line.