Will Lester Holt Be More Lehrer or Crowley?

With the first presidential debate coming up on Monday, all eyes not on the candidates will be on Lester Holt, anchor of NBC Nightly News.

At issue is how Holt will moderate. Will he fact-check during the debate? Or will he play it straight like Jim Lehrer, formerly of PBS NewsHour, who handled the first 2012 presidential debate so impartially that Democrats howled in protest?

“I really strongly believe that the best moderators do not intervene. I would never interrupt a debate. That violates the inherent principle of the debate.”

Political experts disagree somewhat on how to moderate the most important series of debates in the world — the U.S. presidential debates. But generally the experts agree that if the moderator is remembered long after the debate, then he or she didn’t moderate well, or was too aggressive.

Holt is not likely to be too aggressive. But Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has already issued a warning to Holt, through the media, that he also doesn’t want fact-checking.

“Well, I think he has to be a moderator,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning. “I mean, you’re debating somebody and if she makes a mistake or I make a mistake, I’ll, you know, we’ll take each other on. But I certainly don’t think you want Candy Crowley again.”

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CNN’s Crowley famously got involved in a dispute as she moderated a debate between President Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney in 2012. Crowley’s siding with President Obama on an issue about Benghazi, Libya, was based on a parsing of what Obama said. Romney’s point was brushed aside unfairly, many Republicans believe.

Holt is 57, and was born in San Francisco, grew up in Sacramento, and attended California State University. He started off in TV news in 1981. He worked for CBS until 2000, when he was hired by MSNBC.

He was a regular fixture on NBC News and other NBC programming until June 2015, when it was announced he would replace Brian Williams on Nightly News. Williams was ensnared in a controversy over some biographical claims he made in February 2015, and Holt was rushed in, eventually getting the job permanently.

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Holt has an unassuming presence and a voice made for TV news, and seems fair enough to be a debate moderator. The Los Angeles Times said he is called “Iron Pants” because he endures long hours when working on such stories as the Iraq War and the 2000 Florida recount. He seems interested in the news — not commentary.

The pressure is on Holt. People expect fair moderation because of past debates and what they saw as interference from moderators in 2012, especially the Crowley incident.

“Her credibility as a journalist took a hit for that,” said Adriana Cohen, a Boston Herald columnist and talk show host for the BostonHerald.com. “There’s no doubt about it. She threw President Obama a major assist.”

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Few people expect Holt to go out on a limb and be as aggressive as Fox News’ Megyn Kelly was at the first Republican presidential debate in 2015. Or as confrontational and flimsy in moderation as CNBC was at their October 2015 GOP debate.

“I think he’s going to do well,” said Professor Gordon Stables, director of debate and forensics at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Stables said Holt should focus on moderation but resort to fact-checking if it helps facilitate informational exchanges between the two candidates.

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Stables also said he gives credit to Megyn Kelly of Fox News for being aggressive in her questions in the 2015 presidential primary debates.

But because of Crowley’s interjection in the second presidential debate of 2012, some experts take a dim view of a “three-way” debate. Interjecting with corrections is not advisable, said Professor Ben Voth, director of debate at Southern Methodist University.

“I really strongly believe that the best moderators do not intervene,” said Voth. “I would never interrupt a debate. That violates the inherent principle of the debate.”

And that’s not the role of the moderator, said Voth.

Trump and Holt need to mind the clock, too. Voth said his studies have led him to conclude that Democrats usually get more time than Republicans in presidential debates.

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“It’s clearly unprofessional and it’s unfair,” said Voth.

Voth said time helps a candidate win. The more they speak, the more they are perceived to have won the debate.

When talking to Cohen, Voth, and Stables about past mishandled debates, Crowley’s name rises to the top. The CNBC debate held in 2015 featuring the GOP candidates comes in second.

No moderator comes in third, which is good, Voth said — you don’t want to be remembered too much.

Ranking highly in the minds of experts is Jim Lehrer and his handling of the first presidential debate in 2012. Nicknamed the “dean of moderators,” it was Lehrer’s 12th debate.

Speaking at a recent event at the University of Notra Dame, both Lehrer and the retired Bob Schieffer of CBS News said moderators should not intervene.

Holt will have a high standard to meet if trying to match Lehrer. Lehrer, a retired Marine, prized neutrality so much, he didn’t vote when he was a full-time journalist.