US election: Moderator Elaine Quijano in the spotlight
- Published
Elaine Quijano has previously been a White House and Supreme Court correspondent
Before the US vice presidential debate, many people had never heard of Elaine Quijano. But she is now firmly in the spotlight as a debate rages over her performance.
The experienced CBS News journalist was the first Asian-American to moderate an election debate. The 42-year-old Filipino-American from Chicago was also one of the youngest moderators.
'Not a forceful presence'
As Democratic Virginia Senator Tim Kaine and Republican Indiana Governor Mike Pence faced off, they were often talking over each other. Senator Kaine was particularly called out online for repeatedly interrupting Governor Pence.
Some thought Ms Quijano was not able to keep the debate on track and stay in control.
When the two candidates were engaging in interesting exchanges, she was criticised for interrupting.
And she faced the inevitable cries of bias from both sides of the political divide.
Who is Elaine Quijano?
Her grandfather was killed by a US air strike in the Philippines during World War Two.
Her mother was a seamstress in the Philippines.
Before broadcast journalism she originally pursued engineering at college.
She has reported from conflict zones like Kuwait and Afghanistan.
She has been a White House correspondent as well a Supreme Court correspondent.
But others were less harsh, acknowledging the difficulty of trying to keep the two political foes from bickering or ignoring the debate topics to attack each other.
"Gentlemen, the people at home cannot understand you when you speak over each other," Ms Quijano said at one point.
"I'll remind you both, the topic was North Korea," she said when the two candidates ignored the question to attack each other's running mates Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.
And some were just happy to see more diversity on the screen when it came to a political debate.
