Controversy brews up around VP debate moderator Ifill

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Controversy swirled over vice presidential debate moderator Gwen Ifill one day before the face-off between Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden, after new scrutiny was drawn to her upcoming book featuring Sen. Barack Obama.

In stories published Wednesday on NationalReview.com and WorldNetDaily's Web site, conservative commentators noted that "Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama" -- first announced several months ago -- is slated to be released around the inauguration of the next president in January 2009.

"... as if we needed any further evidence of a jaw-dropping double standard, we have to contemplate the sheer impossibility that someone who wrote a positive biography of [John] McCain being chosen to moderate a debate," wrote NationalReview.com's Jim Geraghty on Wednesday.

The book, published by Doubleday, has not yet been released to critics or the public.

In the book, Ifill takes a look at the black political movement's beginnings during the Civil Rights movement that gave way "to a generation of men and women who are the direct beneficiaries of the struggles of the 1960s," according to Amazon.com. iReport.com: Ifill criticism "malarkey'

Ifill discussed the book in a interview with The Washington Post on September 4, well before the Commission on Presidential Debates announced the debate moderators. Watch The Post media critic call Ifill criticism 'a stretch' »

The McCain campaign said it had not seen Ifill's Post interview, or been aware of her book, until Tuesday. McCain told CNN's Juan Carlos Lopez that the situation concerned him but that he was sure Ifill would be professional.

The Washington-based journalist told The Associated Press' David Bauder later Wednesday: "I've got a pretty long track record covering politics and news, so I'm not particularly worried that one-day blog chatter is going to destroy my reputation. ... The proof is in the pudding. They can watch the debate tomorrow night and make their own decisions about whether or not I've done my job." Watch analysts weigh in on Thursday's debate »

"Right now Gwen is in St. Louis. Her focus is on the debate. ... I don't think it's anything she needs to worry about or address. It's in her bio, there have been articles about it," said PBS spokeswoman Anne Bell.

In the Post article by Howard Kurtz, host of CNN's "Reliable Sources," Ifill responded to criticism over moderating the debate.

"I'm in great demand -- everyone wants to talk to me -- but I'm not speaking for the whole race," Ifill said. "My job is to be a reporter. I cannot be the great interpreter. It's not my job to be on someone else's air telling them what black people think."

Ifill told Kurtz that as Obama accepted his party's nomination for president, a white television reporter asked her: "Aren't you just blown away by all of this?" She said she was not.

Kurtz also points out that "on one level, Ifill says, she views this moment as the daughter of a black minister who marched in civil rights demonstrations and who she wishes were alive to see what Obama has achieved."

Ifill told Kurtz, "I still don't know if he'll be a good president. I'm still capable of looking at his pros and cons in a political sense." Besides, Ifill says, "no one's ever assumed a white reporter can't cover a white candidate."

Ifill also discussed the upcoming book in the Kurtz interview.

She said her book would cover new black political leaders such as Obama, Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

"We're very lazy when we think about race in this country. We try to put it in a box. It's Jesse [Jackson] versus Al [Sharpton], or Jesse and Al versus everyone else," she told Kurtz. "We love simplistic conflict.

"There's a whole group of people who have Ivy League degrees and immense accomplishments who actually benefited from the things their parents were fighting for."

Amazon.com's description of the book notes that Ifill drew on interviews from "power brokers" such as former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and many others, as well as "her own razor-sharp observations and analysis of such issues as generational conflict and the 'black enough' conundrum, Ifill shows why this is a pivotal moment in American history."

Ifill has been criticized in the past by political commentators for her performance as a moderator -- most notably in 2004's vice presidential debate between Dick Cheney and ex-Sen. John Edwards. Edwards lashed out at Cheney's ties to Halliburton, to which Cheney responded: "I can respond, Gwen, but it's going to take more than 30 seconds."

Ifill shot back: "Well, that's all you've got."

And most recently, some PBS viewers complained about Ifill's facial expressions after Palin's acceptance speech during the Republican National Convention in September, according to The Associated Press.

"Those viewers apparently believed Ifill didn't seem sufficiently excited," the AP's Bauder wrote Wednesday.

"We are all subject to that kind of scrutiny," Ifill told Bauder. "If you're frowning to think after a long night on your feet ... you're not even aware that your face is frowning to think. You're just thinking."

"I know where my head was," the Washington-based journalist also told the AP. "So that's what counts."

Ifill made news Tuesday after it was reported she broke her ankle in her Washington home while carrying debate prep material.

Ifill said that would not hinder her from traveling to the debate.

Ifill's career spans decades. Previously to working at PBS, Ifill was a reporter for NBC News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun and Boston Herald American.

Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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