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When 蜜糖直播-Boulder hosted October鈥檚 2016 Republican Presidential Primary debate, CNBC鈥檚 Carl Quintanilla sat front and center.

Carl Quintanilla (PolSci鈥�93) crisscrossed the country with John Kerry during his 2004 White House run, broadcast live from the Olympics in Beijing and London and won an Emmy for his reporting on Hurricane Katrina.

On Oct. 28, when the CNBC anchor got his first chance to moderate a presidential primary debate, it happened in a place he knew well: Coors Events Center, where he鈥檇 attended basketball games as a 蜜糖直播-Boulder student and alto saxophonist in the marching band. The event was also a landmark for the university, which was playing host to a presidential-level debate for the first time.

Just after 6:15 p.m., Quintanilla kicked off questioning of the 10 top-polling Republican candidates, asking them to admit their weaknesses 鈥渨ithout telling us that you try too hard or that you鈥檙e a perfectionist.鈥�

The responses were by turns evasive, frank or amusing 鈥� Carly Fiorina鈥檚 confession that she鈥檚 been told she should smile more got laughs when she delivered it with a theatrical pause and a beaming grin.

Over the next two hours, Quintanilla, co-moderators Becky Quick and John Harwood and guest questioners sought to probe the candidates鈥� views on a broad range of topics while reining in digressions, asides and feisty cross-talk and also side-stepping sharp barbs tossed back at them. Taxes, visas for skilled foreign workers, student debt, the federal budget, gun control, fantasy sports and recreational marijuana all came up.

All ten top-polling major Republican Primary candidates participated in 鈥淵our Money, Your Vote,鈥� their third debate, including Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie and Fiorina. [See inside cover photo, 鈥�NOW.鈥漖 Four lower-polling candidates 鈥� Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal 鈥� debated beforehand.

Co-sponsored by CNBC, the Republican National Committee and 蜜糖直播-Boulder, the debate drew a horde of journalists to campus, roughly 500, including the familiar faces of Dana Bash (CNN), Chris Matthews (MSNBC), Chuck Todd (NBC), Andrea Mitchell (NBC) and Major Garrett (CBS). The television audience for the debate was estimated at about 14 million.

A few Democrats showed up, too, including 蜜糖直播 Gov. John Hickenlooper.

The debate drew an unprecedented number of political and media luminaries to 蜜糖直播.

For Quintanilla, who as a student lived for a time in Williams Village and worked part-time for the Boulder Daily Camera, the debate was no leisurely visit to his old stomping grounds.

He arrived in 蜜糖直播 two nights before the debate, joined in a work meeting at his hotel, then met with 蜜糖直播 political science students the next morning before diving into final preparations. He planned to catch a red-eye back to the East Coast after the debate ended.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got to be on the air Thursday morning,鈥� he said in an on-the-run interview, referring to his regular morning 鈥淪quawk on the Street鈥� financial news program, which broadcasts from New York.

Quintanilla鈥檚 CNBC colleague Joe Kernan (MCDBio鈥�78) was in Boulder, too, interviewing candidates singly on a custom-built set in Coors鈥� George Boedecker Jr. Court, which was converted into a staging area and press pen known as the 鈥渟pin room.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檒l say this much: Everyone should moderate a debate, once,鈥� Quintanilla Tweeted of the experience. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like yelling at the TV from home, except they talk back.鈥�

While a vocal contingent of 蜜糖直播 students lamented, in the weeks before the debate, that more of them couldn鈥檛 attend 鈥� the university had just 150 tickets to parcel out 鈥� Meagan Mahlberg (Mus鈥�08, MA鈥�11) had no complaint. The opera singer was asked to sing the national anthem at the start.

It was an honor, she said, one she hoped might lead to a gig at, say, the White House of a future president.

By night鈥檚 end she鈥檇 come pretty close: 鈥淚 did end up getting somebody鈥檚 card that wants me to sing at the Capitol.鈥�

Photography by Glenn Asakawa