Ed Asner to Moderate Alternative Debate

Actor Ed Asner is moderating this week's presidential debate. Ed Asner? This Week's Presidential Debate?

The answer to both those questions is yes, according to the Free & Equal Election Foundation, which is sponsoring the alternative debate.

Asner, who does have news experience onscreen as the boss of a Minneapolis news department (WJM-TV) in the Mary Tyler Moore show, has been tapped to moderate the debate Oct. 25 among presidential candidates “Rocky” Roque De La Fuente (Reform Party and the American Delta Party’s nominee), Darrell Castle (Constitution Party), and socialist party candidate Gloria LaRiva.

The debate will be held at Mack Auditorium at Colorado University, Boulder, at 7 p.m. Mountain Time.

The proceedings will actually kick off with a keynote speech by Kweku Mandela, grandson of the late South African political activist and later President Nelson Mandela.

Third party candidates Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, and Evan McMullin were invited as well, said the group.

Asner is a longtime activist as well as actor and no stranger to presidential elections, having successfully run for the presidency of the Screen Actors Guild.

While this story initially said France 24 would be carrying the debate, a representative of the international media outlet said that was not the case.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.