When Jim Lehrer takes the stage in Denver on Wednesday night, the tens of millions of people watching will see the same imperturbable voice of reason they have come to know in his quarter century as the country's go-to referee for the presidential debates.
But Lehrer, the former anchor of "PBS NewsHour," has been seething. He said he is outraged by suggestions that he is a "safe" and uninspired choice to moderate the first of four debates. And he is offended by reports that questioned whether this -- his 12th presidential debate -- might be one too many.
"It's a rough, rough world. I know that," Lehrer said the other day, his voice rising in exasperation. "And those of us who have decided to play in that world have to play by those rules. I'm susceptible to the same smears as anyone else."
In this election, living by the journalists' doctrine of disengagement -- the reporter is never the story -- has proved harder than ever, especially for those moderating debates.
First there were Newt Gingrich's aggressive confrontations with John King of CNN and Juan Williams of Fox News during the Republican primary debates. Critics accused Gingrich of feigning outrage for political gain, but the consequences were clear. Moderators became fair game.
Then came the chorus of second-guessing that rained down on Lehrer and the other moderators after the Commission on Presidential Debates named them this summer. Too predictable, too old, too white.
In the Twitter age, when anyone can immediately render swift and harsh judgment, the stress of hosting an event as politically charged as a presidential debate is heavier than ever.
And a role that once stood as a crowning and coveted journalistic achievement is now subject -- before a question has been asked -- to partisan rancor in this hyperpoliticized climate.
CNN's Candy Crowley, who will moderate the Oct. 16 presidential debate, said that try as she might to tune the negativity out, the incoming fire can be difficult to absorb.
"There's always going to be someone throwing a shoe at the television asking why don't I know this, or why I didn't ask that," she said.
"Mind you," she added with a hearty laugh, "every morning I wake up, I want to throw up thinking about it."
Martha Raddatz, the ABC News correspondent who will moderate the vice presidential debate Oct. 11, said she is trying to stay off Twitter so she can avoid reading unflattering things about herself.
Not that it always works. She said her son re-tweeted a message in which someone had snidely asked, "Who the heck is Martha Raddatz?"
At least that made her laugh, she said.
"At first it sort of gets to you," she said. "But then, you're like, whatever."
Bob Schieffer of CBS News, the moderator of the final presidential debate Oct. 22, is so concerned about the appearance of bias that he is recusing himself from the network's coverage of the first three debates.
"I just think in this toxic atmosphere it's best that I not offer analysis after the debates," he said, noting that he had no qualms about covering them in 2008 even though he was moderating then too. "I want both of them to feel like I'm going to give them the fairest possible shot."
Janet H. Brown, the executive director of the debates commission, said pressure now hangs over every exchange between moderator and candidate. Even saying, "Time's up" can trigger a backlash.
"It's very challenging," she said. "How do you do that in a way that the public says, 'Oh, he handled that really well,' instead of 'I can't believe he just cut off the president.'"
Given the stakes, all the moderators have their own special preparation techniques.
Schieffer, whose debate will focus on foreign policy, keeps a three-ring binder on his desk that gets thicker every day with news clippings on subjects like Pakistan and Israel and lists of "smart people" he can call for guidance.
Whenever he sits down with experts, he brings his assistant to take notes.
"I'm a very slow writer," he confessed.
Crowley jots thoughts and potential questions down on blue index cards, which litter her office and home.
"You should see my desk," she said. "It's covered with blue cards. I even have a stack of them next to my bed and in my bathroom for when I'm brushing my teeth and think of something."
She also practices transcendental meditation, which she uses twice a day to clear her head.
Raddatz, when told of her colleagues' techniques, said: "I haven't meditated. Maybe I should."
But she does wake up in the middle of the night to jot down ideas. And if a question strikes when her BlackBerry is nearby, she sends herself an email.
By the time of the debate, she said, she will probably have spoken with dozens of colleagues, sources and experts, "as wide a net as I can cast without making myself crazy and overwhelmed."
Lehrer, who hosted his first presidential debate in 1988, has his system down by now. Of his preparations, he said, "If I'm not physically doing it, it's in my head."
Despite all the grief he is taking this time around -- "My reputation will rise and fall on my work," he said -- he did not rule out moderating in 2016, if asked.
"God knows," he said.
