The last time a woman moderated a presidential debate, most DePauw students weren't born yet. Candy Crowley, CNN"s chief political correspondent spoke at Kresge Auditorium Wednesday as part of the biannual Ubben lecture series and will be the first female in 20 years to take on the position.
In her talk, titled "Campaign 2012: A View from the Front Lines," Crowley told those in attendance that she had good news and bad news.
"The good news is that there are 41 days, 1 hour and 30 minutes until the election is over," Crowley said. "The bad news is that there are 41 days, 1 hour, and 30 minutes until the election is over."
Crowley informed the audience about the state of the current presidential election and said, "There is plenty of reason for Mitt Romney to be worried at this point," but also spoke about the issues of the Obama campaign.
"The campaign of hope and change has run into the reality of what this economy has been," she added.
Ken Owen, DePauw's director of media relations, said the intent of bringing Crowley to DePauw was to introduce students and faculty to someone who is educated on the election at hand, but also someone who is relatively unbiased.
"I think we were able to have a very important discussion," Owen said. "It's a 30,000 foot view, someone who deals with it everyday, who is right in the thick of it, and who is being paid to be in the thick of it."
Owen addressed how important it was that Crowley was able to shed light on a situation without swaying the audience to vote one way or the other.
"I think people left there with a better feeling for what's at stake in this election, and nobody is really saying specifically what to do," Owen said.
Junior Marcelle Forsyth attended the lecture and was pleased with the way Crowley addressed the crowd.
"She didn't seem like she was talking down to us," Forsyth said. "She seemed like she was trying to talk on our level. And she was trying to speak about issues of the economy and politics in the way they affect college students."
Crowley covered issues from both sides of the fence for not only this election, but the 2016 election as well. After explaining ways that it would be possible for Obama to win or for Romney to win, Crowley threw her hands up in the air and said, "the great thing about politics is there's always something that's going to surprise us."
Crowley will be moderating the town-hall-style presidential debate on Oct. 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
"This debate is about you guys," Crowley said at the end of her speech Tuesday evening. "My dream for this debate is that nobody at home throws a shoe at the TV and shouts, 'why didn't she ask him that?'"
