The Commission on Presidential Debates—which sponsors and produces all presidential debates—selected the following format for the first 2012 presidential debate at the University of Denver.

Topic

Oct. 3 presidential debate participants discussed domestic policy.

See the format for the three subsequent 2012 CPD debates.

Moderator

Jim Lehrer, executive editor of PBS' NewsHour

Participants

The CPD uses its 2012 Candidate Selection Criteria to determine who participates in each presidential debate.

Attendees

The CPD controlled how tickets to the debate were distributed.