The vice presidential debate was held on October 15 at the Alley Theatre. The presidential debates were held on September 23 at the Walnut Street Theater, October 6 at the Palace of Fine Arts and on October 22 at the College of William & Mary, ahead of the November 7 Election Day. All of the debates were sponsored by the League of Women Voters. In each of the debates, the candidates received questions in turn with three minutes to answer and a 60-second rebuttal.
Participant selection
In 1976 only the two candidates from the major political parties, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, were invited. As a result, only Bob Dole and Walter Mondale met the criteria for the vice presidential debate.
This was the first presidential debate in 16 years. 81 minutes into the broadcast of the 90 minute debate, the sound was lost and the debate was paused for 27 minutes before the problem was fixed and the debate could resume.[2]
Pauline Frederick of NPR posed the questions for each candidate. The debate is infamous for President Ford's gaffe, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration."[3]