Hearst’s WMUR Manchester will be the host ABC affiliate as the network sends Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos to the Granite State for a debate among contenders for the Republican nomination for president in 2012. However, the date of the debate is currently unknown.
What we do know is that it will take place the Saturday before citizens of the state go to the polls. However, certain states have been jockeying for position in the primary derby, moving their electoral events into January, and throwing the date of the New Hampshire event into doubt.
Officials in New Hampshire have been hoping that officials in Nevada will move their event back a few days, enabling NH to hold its event after Iowa caucuses are held (that now looks like it will take place 1/3/12) and before any other event is held.
It is possible the New Hampshire event will move into December 2011.
In any event, the ABC/WMUR debate will take place from 9PM-11PM on the prior Saturday.
WMUR’s Jeff Bartlett commented, “WMUR is proud of our history of partnering with ABC for presidential debates. We are looking forward to producing another informative debate just days before the First in the Nation Primary and again providing New Hampshire voters with a critical look at the field of candidates.”
According to ABC, the debate will be available on a number of media platforms: “The debate will stream live on ABCNEWS.com, Yahoo!, and WMUR.com. ABC News Radio, the nation’s largest commercial radio news organization, will carry it live on its stations. ABC News will re-air an excerpted version of the debate the following Sunday morning on ‘This Week with Christiane Amanpour.’”
