Sorry, Charlie! CBS, NBC get Obama-McCain debate love, ABC snubbed; was the "Gotcha Debate" to blame?

Just when you think PBS is sliding into a tragic, irreversible decline, someone comes along to give it a boost. And so it is that two out of the four debates planned for this fall will be given over to the present and future lead anchor of the "NewsHour" on public television. Jim Lehrer will moderate the first debate, Sept. 26, at Ole Miss. Tom Brokaw will emcee the Oct. 7 debate from Nashville and Bob Schieffer gets the final debate, Oct. 15 at Hofstra.

After losing the Archer Daniels Midland sponsorship and undergoing heart surgery earlier this year, it's nice to see some good news for Lehrer. He is America's fairest and least flashy news anchor and also writes an amusing novel. If I had Frank Fahrenkopf's job, Lehrer would be doing every debate. And PBS would be paid $10 million for each one ... like a team that earned its way into the World Series.

Gwen Ifill — who filled in ably for Lehrer during his medical leave, and is my pick to take over "NewsHour" if PBS can figure out a way to keep it funded — will moderate the one and only VP debate.

Meanwhile ... where's ABC?

I'm sure someone will pipe up to say that this was entirely a random process, or that the decision to hand the remaining two debates over to NBC and CBS (which didn't get a debate the entire primary season) had nothing to do with that terrible, awful, "despicable" "Gotcha Debate" that ABC's Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulous lowered themselves into last March.

I don't believe it.

I know people may not want to hear this about the sainted Tim Russert, but the last Democratic debate that he moderated was pretty close to a gotcha debate, too. Only he didn't called on it, ABC did, and now, it appears, ABC is paying the price.

By the way, I spoke with Paula Kerger, the head of PBS, last month here over barbecue and she told me that the Lehrer show has had a nice infusion of funds ever since the ADM announcement. I said it seemed to be that this was ALWAYS happening to PBS -- it had to be in ICU before people would notice that it was in any kind of trouble. She agreed, but said things were looking up for "NewsHour." I hope this helps.

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Here's the PR from the Debates Commission:

Paul G. Kirk, Jr. and Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., co-chairmen of the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), today announced the moderators for the 2008 general election presidential and vice presidential debates. The moderators, and the schedule and locations for the debates (as announced on November 21, 2007), are as follows: First presidential debate Friday, September 26 The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss. Jim Lehrer Executive Editor and Anchor, The NewsHour, PBS Vice presidential debate Thursday, October 2 Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. Gwen Ifill Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and Moderator and Managing Editor, Washington Week, PBS Second presidential debate (town meeting) Tuesday, October 7 Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn. Tom Brokaw Special Correspondent, NBC News Third presidential debate Wednesday, October 15 Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y. Bob Schieffer CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent, and Host, Face the Nation Each debate will begin at 9:00 p.m. EDT. Format The format for the debates, announced on November 21, 2007, will be: -- Each debate will have a single moderator and last for 90 minutes. -- In the first and third presidential debates and the vice presidential debate, the candidates will be seated with the moderator at a table. -- One presidential debate will focus primarily on domestic policy and one presidential debate will focus primarily on foreign policy. The second presidential debate will be held as a town meeting in which citizens will pose questions to the candidates. The vice presidential debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics. -- During the first and third presidential debates, and the vice presidential debate, the time will be divided into eight, ten-minute segments. The moderator will introduce each segment with an issue on which each candidate will comment, after which the moderator will facilitate further discussion of the issue, including direct exchange between the candidates for the balance of that segment. -- The participants in the town meeting will pose their questions to the candidates after reviewing their questions with the moderator for the sole purpose of avoiding duplication. The participants will be chosen by the Gallup Organization and will be undecided voters from the Nashville, Tenn. standard metropolitan statistical area. During the town meeting, the moderator has discretion to use questions submitted by Internet. -- Time at the end of the final presidential debate will be reserved for closing statements. Participants The CPD 2008 Candidate Selection Criteria, announced on November 21, 2007, will be the exclusive means of determining the candidates to be invited to participate in the debates. For more information, please visit http://www.debates.org.