Moderator Candy Crowley is facing criticism over her performance in the second presidential debate, with conservatives alleging that she sided with President Obama and one group even calling on her to be fired. 
 
 
 
 "Crowley's behavior goes beyond despicable as it was a blatant attempt to influence the presidential election," Americans for Limited Government said in a statement Wednesday. "If CNN wants to maintain any shred of credibility as a 'news' organization, they should fire Crowley immediately for her gross violation of whatever remains of journalistic standards." 
 
 Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck tweeted during the debate that "Candy loves to police Romney! As soon as he begins to win she shuts him down." Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg wrote, "There goes Candy holding Romney's feet to the fire while, letting Obama unchain his muse." Another conservative, John Nolte, wrote, "Crowley is the one losing this debate. She's been absolutely disgraceful and biased from choice of questions to time." Rush Limbaugh complained Wednesday that Crowley had committed "an act of journalistic terror." 
 
 
 
 It wasn't just the commentators. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said Crowley overstepped her bounds in trying to fact check the candidates. "When you have two candidates disagreeing, it's not the role of the moderator to say, 'Mr. President, you're right' or 'Gov. Romney, you're right,'" he told Crowley on CNN Wednesday. 
 
 
 
 The attacks on Crowley are different than the criticism of moderator Jim Lehrer after the first presidential debate. Lehrer was deemed too deferential, while Crowley is being criticized for inserting herself into the conversation with questionable facts. But the overarching dynamic is the same: In this polarized political age, a debate moderator has little chance to escape a harsh critique. Even Martha Raddatz, who kept tight control on last week's vice presidential debate and challenged both candidates, was deemed by conservatives to have sided with Joe Biden. 
 
 Second presidential debate: Libya 
 
 To be sure, debate moderators should not be insulated from criticism. The questions during Tuesday night's town hall debate, which were chosen by Crowley, more often than not played into the president's hands - perhaps reflecting the fact that the town hall was held in a blue state. And Crowley's decision to side with the president over whether he had deemed the Libya attack an act of terror, when the reality was not so clear cut, was a misstep. 
 
 
 
 But the moderator's impact on the debate is ultimately relatively small: It is the candidates, after all, who do most of the talking. The moderator, meanwhile, has to try to keep the conversation moving while giving the candidates equal time, correcting false claims and steering answers back toward the question. For partisans looking to explain away a poor performance by their candidate, she or he makes an easy target precisely because it's almost impossible to pull all that off perfectly. It should come as no surprise that many Democrats suggested that Mr. Obama lost the first debate in part because Lehrer let Romney roll over him, while many Republicans suggested Romney lost the second one because Crowley handed it to the president. That's a lot easier than just admitting your guy screwed up. 
 
 Moderator-bashing has taken on the nasty tone that partisans increasingly bring to just about every interaction they have with the news media. In the Republican primary debates, Newt Gingrich used attacks on debate moderators to score political points. 
 
 "It's such a hyper-politicized environment that people are looking to jump on any slight perception of favoritism one way or the other," said Alan Schroeder, a professor at Northeastern University and an expert on presidential debates. "This is unusually intense criticism for the moderators, and people are misplacing their focus here." 
 
 "This is not about the moderators," he said. "The moderators do the best they can under extremely difficult circumstances." 
 
 Crowley's decision to insert herself into the town hall format, which she made clear before the debate, prompted the campaigns to complain she was overstepping her bounds. While moderators have become more proactive in recent campaign cycles, in the past they tended to be more willing to simply play traffic cop, said Schroeder. 
 
 And Crowley's willingness to fact check on the fly reflects an increasing move in the news media to challenge erroneous claims. It's a development that has been welcomed by many but also comes with risks, both because the journalist may not have their facts right and because challenging a candidate can contribute to perceptions that the journalist is biased. 
 
 Crowley isn't offering apologies. Though she initially seemed to backtrack on her Libya fact check, suggesting that Romney was "right in the main, I just think he picked the wrong word," she later maintained that she had not in fact done so. She said on "The View" Wednesday morning that her fact check was simply an attempt to move the conversation forward, and suggested that criticism of her performance was inevitable. 
 
 
 
 "People are going to look at this through the prism they look at this through," Crowley said. "I get that." 
 
 
 
 Due Diligence: Did Obama initially deem Libya attacks a terrorist act? ||||| Mitt Romney's team worries that the media is too eager for an Obama comeback. Mitt camp: Media wants Obama rise 
 
 BOSTON — Aides to Mitt Romney and Republican strategists fret that no matter how well Romney does in Tuesday’s town hall debate, the media will inevitably award victory to President Barack Obama. 
 
 Everyone loves a comeback, and just as pundits and reporters found one after the first debate in Denver in the GOP nominee’s strong performance, Romney and GOP operatives argue that the same will hold true of the president following Tuesday’s second round on Long Island. 
 
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 ( Also on POLITICO: Inside the campaign: How Mitt preps) 
 
 A senior Romney adviser predicted that “It’s going to be very hard to find observers to say [Obama] was just as bad as he was in the first debate…. the last debate sort of lowered a lot of expectations in the minds of many observers.” 
 
 “Perhaps Romney’s biggest challenge will be overcoming a Gang of 500 who would love nothing more than reporting ‘Obama wins round by KO’ lede,’” concurred Brad Dayspring, a GOP strategist and adviser to the YG Action Fund. “Obama the comeback kid is a very appealing story line.” 
 
 It’s unlikely that either candidate will make a major mistake on substance at this point — so managing optics and expectations become as important as policy details in preparing for the debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Lowering expectations after Romney’s strong debate performance in Denver— and Obama’s lackluster one — is vital for the GOP. 
 
 Romney’s backers, for instance, will tell you that their guy likely can’t hold a candle to the congenial Obama in a “town hall” format. But while the former Republican governor has certainly had a connectivity issue with voters, he has ample experience is town hall settings — and has often shown a warmer, engaging side. In the 2008 presidential campaign, he held many public “Ask Mitt Anything” forums around the country, taking a broad range of questions from voters and answering them often with humor and apparent candor. 
 
 Romney has also held a number of town hall meetings during the 2012 primary season — with mostly good results and a few missteps. (During one conversation with voters in New Hampshire he uttered the now famous line: “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.”) 
 
 ( Also on POLITICO: Full coverage on the presidential debates) 
 
 “I honestly think this is a good format for Mitt,” said GOP strategist Alex Castellanos, who worked Romney’s 2008 campaign. “People forget how many he has done. He’s very comfortable when he’s just having a conversation. This will not be new for him.” 
 
 Romney adviser Kevin Madden says it is “an opportunity to address a particular voter and his or her personal anxieties in a way for the entire country to see”. 
 
 “I won’t get into demeanor, but we’re certainly cognizant that this a good format for the president, that he will be personally confident. But ultimately, this campaign is not about eharmony.com. It’s about monster.com,” Madden said, referring the employment website. “It’s about the most qualified person for the job.” ||||| Spinning isn’t just for surrogates. 
 
 President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney moved quickly out of Hempstead, N.Y., and out on the trail Wednesday, each trying to wring a post-game win from their bitter second debate that many saw as — at most — a slight victory for the incumbent. 
 
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 reset POLITICO LIVE ‘Driving the Day’ 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Liberals relieved by Obama’s performance 
 
 So without a knock-out punch or TKO to boast about, both candidates spent the day replaying their own highlight reels. 
 
 For Obama, that meant talking about himself — instead of the litany of might-have-saids, could-have-saids, should-have-saids and Big Bird jokes that he blasted Romney with after an uninspired performance in Denver reshaped the race. This time, instead of trying to calm an anxious base, Obama delighted them. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Fact-checking the Hofstra debate) 
 
 Romney’s campaign kept its focus on base voters, too — revving up the Republican nominee’s own with a barrage of criticism against Hofstra debate moderator Candy Crowley. Romney also tried to mute a key part of Obama’s support by pressing his point that the president failed to deliver the immigration reform he promised. That, Romney said, was the clearest evidence that Obama has nothing to deliver in a second term. 
 
 Behind the scenes, the post-debate spin machine kicked into high gear on both sides. But while Obama’s campaign quickly moved on several fronts, Romney’s spent much of the day on defense. 
 
 (PHOTOS: The in-your-face debate) 
 
 The theme of the day: the War for Women. After the first debate, the pro-Obama gender gap among women all but disappeared in some polls. In the quest to win them back, the president seized on Romney’s comment at Hofstra that he’d gone through “binders full of women” in recruiting his gubernatorial staff. 
 
 “I tell you what,” Obama, tie askew, told a crowd of 2,000 in Mount Vernon, Iowa. “We don’t have to collect a bunch of binders to find qualified, talented, driven young women ready to work and teach in these fields right now.” 
 
 (PHOTOS: Stars react to the presidential debate) 
 
 As he did Tuesday night, he linked his appeal to women to other campaign themes that he seemed to have forgotten in Denver, including women’s health, reproductive choice and equal pay. Even Planned Parenthood funding got a mention. 
 
 Romney’s campaign responded by emphasizing his original, and fundamental core, argument: Obama has failed to heal the economy. Romney’s not just someone who understands and respects women, they said, he’s got a record of working with them — and now he wants to use that experience to set the nation on better fiscal footing. 
 
 (PHOTOS: 10 memorable town hall moments) 
 
 “Why is it that there are 3.6 million more women in poverty today than when the president took office?” Romney asked at a rally in Chesapeake, Va., Wednesday. “This president has failed America’s women.” 
 
 Romney’s former lieutenant governor in Massachusetts, Kerry Healy, echoed that line. 
 
 “People are hurting in this country, and women especially have been suffering,” Healy said. “Five-and-a-half million women are unemployed. Under President Obama, the number of women living in poverty has climbed to a record high of nearly 26 million.” ||||| CANDY CROWLEY, MODERATOR: Good evening from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. I’m Candy Crowley from CNN’s “State of the Union.” We are here for the second presidential debate, a town hall, sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. 
 
 CROWLEY: The Gallup organization chose 82 uncommitted voters from the New York area. Their questions will drive the night. My goal is to give the conversation direction and to ensure questions get answered. 
 
 The questions are known to me and my team only. Neither the commission, nor the candidates have seen them. I hope to get to as many questions as possible. 
 
 CROWLEY: And because I am the optimistic sort, I’m sure the candidates will oblige by keeping their answers concise and on point. 
 
 Each candidate has as much as two minutes to respond to a common question, and there will be a two-minute follow-up. The audience here in the hall has agreed to be polite and attentive -- no cheering or booing or outbursts of any sort. 
 
 We will set aside that agreement just this once to welcome President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. 
 
 (APPLAUSE) 
 
 Gentlemen, thank you both for joining us here tonight. We have a lot of folks who’ve been waiting all day to talk to you, so I want to get right to it. 
 
 Governor Romney, as you know, you won the coin toss, so the first question will go to you. And I want to turn to a first-time voter, Jeremy Epstein, who has a question for you. 
 
 QUESTION: Mr. President, Governor Romney, as a 20-year-old college student, all I hear from professors, neighbors and others is that when I graduate, I will have little chance to get employment. What can you say to reassure me, but more importantly my parents, that I will be able to sufficiently support myself after I graduate? 
 
 ROMNEY: Thank you, Jeremy. I appreciate your -- your question, and thank you for being here this evening and to all of those from Nassau County that have come, thank you for your time. Thank you to Hofstra University and to Candy Crowley for organizing and leading this -- this event. 
 
 Thank you, Mr. President, also for being part of this -- this debate. 
 
 Your question -- your question is one that’s being asked by college kids all over this country. I was in Pennsylvania with someone who had just graduated -- this was in Philadelphia -- and she said, “I’ve got my degree. I can’t find a job. I’ve got three part- time jobs. They’re just barely enough to pay for my food and pay for an apartment. I can’t begin to pay back my student loans.” 
 
 So what we have to do is two things. We have to make sure that we make it easier for kids to afford college. 
 
 ROMNEY: And also make sure that when they get out of college, there’s a job. When I was governor of Massachusetts, to get a high school degree, you had to pass an exam. If you graduated in the top quarter of your airlines, we gave you a John and Abigail Adams scholarship, four years tuition free in the college of your choice in Massachusetts, it’s a public institution. ||||| Topics: 2012 Presidential Debates, Candy Crowley, Politics News 
 
 Time’s Mark Halperin has a “scoop” that seems to come straight from the borg of boring and corrupt partisan politics, where the only thing Democrats and Republicans agree about is controlling their own images. Apparently, the Obama and Romney campaigns believe they have an agreement with the Commission on Presidential Debates to limit Crowley’s role in Tuesday’s town hall to that of the Lady Microphone-holder – a political Vanna White, if you will. 
 
 There’s no evidence that Crowley has agreed to that role – and that’s what worries both campaigns. She has continued to insist that she will ask follow-up questions and take liberties in case pressing issues don’t get addressed. Good for her. 
 
 Last week Paul Ryan asked that moderator Martha Raddatz call him “Mr. Ryan,” not “Congressman Ryan,” presumably because he doesn’t want to be tied to the unpopular, obstructionist House of Representatives he helps lead. Raddatz ignored him. Crowley should likewise shrug off demands that she participate in letting the candidates control the terms of the debate more than they already do. 
 
 Obviously, if the questions are sharp and the candidates’ answers on point Tuesday night, Crowley should get out of the way and let the format work. The town hall arrangement certainly allows for voters’ concerns to bubble up that might not register in the Beltway. The first two debates have been fairly narrow and stodgy, with little or no attention to the central role of women voters and their concerns in the 2012 campaign, to issues of gay rights, drug policy, education, or to both parties’ roles in protecting banks over their victims since the 2008 economic meltdown. Let’s hope the voters chosen on Tuesday to ask their questions come from outside the campaign echo chamber. 
 
 But if either candidate dodges the questions or dissembles, that’s why Crowley is there – to follow up and get to the point. If she wasn’t supposed to play a role, why have her at all? 
 
 Let’s also acknowledge: The questions selected at Hofstra University will be screened carefully and likely homogenized to eliminate the most edgy or politically incorrect. So the campaigns as well as the debate commission are trying to foist on us the worst of both worlds: a town hall debate stripped of town hall-style spontaneity and surprise, run by a moderator who’s not allowed to interject any of either.
– It's Round 2 for President Obama and Mitt Romney tonight. Romney is riding high from his trouncing of Obama in the Denver debate, but pundits say neither candidate is a natural at the town hall format, making tonight's debate at Long Island's Hofstra University a potential challenge. Here's what people are saying: Political consultants from both sides expect the rivals to attempt to channel Bill Clinton's masterful '92 town hall performance, the Hill reports. "Bill Clinton understood the choreography," physically approaching each questioner, one Democratic strategist said. "He came across better because of the human connection." Obama supporters think he could connect like that, even if he didn't last time out. "He was so interested in our lives," a woman who met him at an Ohio rally tells the Washington Post. "He’s really good with people." Romney, meanwhile, has experience in the format thanks to his Ask Mitt Anything forums, Politico observes. But his campaign is trying to downplay expectations, predicting an Obama-as-comeback-kid media narrative. The debate will be decided largely based on body language and nonverbal communication, the Los Angeles Times predicts. Undecided voters have heard both candidates' policies "and none of that has persuaded them to commit," a political communications expert says. "These individuals focus more on intangibles." Another hot topic: How active will Candy Crowley be? The campaigns want the moderator to keep quiet, but Crowley won't be cowed. "I’m not a fly on the wall," she tells Politico. "We don’t want the candidates to spout talking points. … I’m going to react organically to what’s happening."