Who moderates the Santos-Vinick debate in "The Debate"?

Forrest Sawyer moderates the Santos–Vinick debate in “The Debate.” He appears as himself, overseeing the fictional presidential contest between Democrat Matt Santos and Republican Arnold Vinick.

Sawyer introduces the debate rules, including timed answers, rebuttals and possible counterpoints. The format quickly loosens when Vinick proposes abandoning the restrictions in favor of a direct conversation, and Santos agrees. Sawyer remains responsible for keeping the candidates and audience under control as the discussion grows heated.

The production was performed live twice, once for NBC’s East Coast broadcast and once for its West Coast broadcast. Some audience reactions were improvised, although the heckling incident was scripted. Sawyer’s real-world broadcast experience helped give the episode an unusually authentic debate atmosphere. Tom Brokaw, Larry King and Tim Russert are plausible distractors because all were prominent television journalists, but none moderates this fictional event.