John King to Moderate Jan. 19 Face-Off; Blitzer, Cooper, Burnett, O’Brien, Crowley Anchor from Charleston
On Thursday, Jan. 19, just two days before the highly anticipated primary election in South Carolina, CNN and the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) will present a presidential town hall debate live from the North Charleston Coliseum. The two-hour debate will begin at 8 p.m. ET and will be moderated by CNN anchor and chief national correspondent John King.
Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Erin Burnett, John King and Soledad O’Brien will anchor their respective programs live and on-location in Charleston on Thursday. Then, on Saturday, Jan. 21, the anchors will be live beginning at 6 p.m. from the CNN Election Center for America’s Choice 2012: South Carolina Primary. A special edition of Anderson Cooper 360° will air at 11 p.m. followed by a special live midnight edition of Piers Morgan Tonight. Candy Crowley will report from South Carolina throughout Saturday evening and will anchor State of the Union on Sunday, Jan. 22.
Reporting from the field in the days leading up to the debate and primary in the Palmetto State will be national political correspondent Jim Acosta, senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash, CNN Radio Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins, senior political correspondent Joe Johns, anchor Don Lemon, and national correspondents David Mattingly and Gary Tuchman. On the trail with the GOP candidates are reporter-at-large Peter Hamby, political producer Rachel Streitfeld, political reporter Shannon Travis and South Carolina-based political producer Shawna Shepherd.
The following five presidential contenders will participate in Thursday’s debate: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. In addition to questions posed to the candidates by King and southern Republicans in the audience, CNN will solicit questions and comments submitted in real-time from CNN.com, the CNN Politics fan page on Facebook and by using the #CNNDebate hashtag on Twitter.
