The presidential debate commission says it will soon adopt changes to its format to avoid a repeat of the disjointed first meeting between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden. The commission said Wednesday the debate “made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.” Moderator Chris Wallace struggled to gain control of the 90-minute debate in Cleveland because of frequent interruptions, primarily by Trump. The next presidential debate is a town hall format scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. NEW YORK (AP) — For much of the opening presidential debate, moderator Chris Wallace looked like a man trying to stop a runaway train with his bare hands. The contest between President Donald Trump and Vice President Joe Biden was chaotic from start to finish. With interruptions and interjections, Trump tried to throw his Democratic opponent off stride. Pleas, increasingly frustrated and loud, were the only tools Wallace had at his disposal to try to maintain control. “Please let him speak, Mr. President,” Wallace tried more than once. The Fox News host pointed out he was the moderator, that he was the one to ask questions, that he hated to raise his voice but would. He reminded the president that his campaign had agreed to the ground rules. For much of the time, it was futile. “Chris Wallace’s debate performance tonight is a great reminder that kindergarten teachers are underpaid,” “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah tweeted in the midst of the 90-minute encounter. There was near unanimous disgust from commentators after the debate was over. Some, like CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, wondered openly if the two remaining scheduled debates between the two men would actually happen. CBS ran an instant poll of viewers and found 69% considered it annoying and just 17% found it informative. Twitter was ablaze with complaints that Wallace had lost control, while some defenders wondered whether there was really anything he could do. “Chris Wallace did not act as a moderator, Donald Trump did not act as a debater,” said MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace — no relation. “Donald Trump was the abuser and Chris Wallace was among the abused.” Wallace tried to ask pointed questions to both men. He effectively asked Trump three times whether he accepted climate change, while also asking Biden whether his proposals to help the environment would hurt the economy. He asked Trump why his administration sought to end racial sensitivity training in government, and questioned Biden about whether he should be using his influence to stop violence in a city like Portland, Oregon. Despite the preparation, Wallace sometimes seemed to give up. At one point he told Trump he was going to ask a question about race, “but if you want to answer something else, you can.” He would occasionally cut short answers or discussions that had a chance of being productive because he simply wanted to end the bickering and move on. Wallace said before the debate that he would not take on a role of fact-checker and held to that. But that left both candidates accusing the other of lying several times and the viewer without any recourse to tell who was telling […]

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