Behind the Scenes: The New Hampshire Debates

MANCHESTER, N.H., Jan. 5, 2007 — -- Two debates in one night means twice the political theater and twice the logistical and production challenges behind the scenes.

For several months, producers have been working in Manchester, turning a small New England liberal arts college into a television studio and the center of the storm that is the 2008 presidential primary season this weekend.

"It's a pretty big operation to put on: four hours of prime time television," explains David Reiter, ABC News' senior producer for the debate. The production team spent part of the afternoon overseeing candidate run throughs and anticipating potential glitches in a production truck parked next to the event location.

Reiter estimates that the number of ABC staffers on the ground dedicated to the debates tops 100, not to mention locally hired carpenters, set designers, lighting designers, electricians, engineers, technical people, along with WMUR, ABC's affiliate station in New Hampshire, and Facebook, the social networking site that is collaborating and co-sponsoring the debate.

The Republican debate begins at 7 p.m. ET. The the Democratic debate is scheduled to begin approximately 15 minutes after the Republican debate ends.The order was decided by a coin toss.

But that proximity of the end of one debate and the start of the next means that not only must the stage be cleared of the candidates, but the audience of more than 500 changes as well. There is little overlap in the two audiences. That's not a lot of time to move that many people.

Borrowing a tried-and-true lesson in how to move large groups of people from the ABC News parent company: Disney.

"We actually took the Disney model of amusement parks and how they change audiences. At the end of the first debate we'll open the doors on one side of the room and let them flow out, at the same time we'll open the doors on the other side of the room and let other people flow in who have already been lined up and brought over from the building next door," Reiter said.