VP debate moderator may gain financially from Obama victory?

The lone vice-presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden takes place tonight. PBS' Gwen Ifill will be moderating the debate. Apparently, it turns out Ms. Ifill has written a book entitled The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, whose publication is scheduled for January 20, 2009, a.k.a. Inauguration Day.

It stands to reason that Ms. Ifill's book will likely sell a lot more copies if Obama is elected President, than if McCain is elected President. So it looks like the moderator of the vice-presidential debate has a vested financial interest in seeing the Democratic ticket get elected over the Republican ticket.

Yet Ms. Ifill reportedly failed to disclose that she was writing the book to the Commission on Presidential Debates, the body that sponsors and organizes the presidential and vice-presidential debates:

The host of PBS’ “Washington Week” and senior correspondent on “The NewsHour” said she did not tell the Commission on Presidential Debates about the book. The commission had no immediate comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

We will have to see whether Ms. Ifill will moderate in a non-partisan way despite her apparent conflict of interest. Thanks to the blogosphere, at least we know about her potential conflict of interest.