Who Is Chuck Todd? MSNBC Democratic Moderator Is 'Meet The Press' Host

Chuck Todd is slated to be one of the two moderators of the MSNBC and New Hampshire Union-hosted Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire Thursday night. The "Meet the Press" host was tapped to join MSNBC host Rachel Maddow to head the first one-on-one debate showdown between Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Both MSNBC and the moderators faced a tighter time crunch preparing for the face-off than the past four Democratic debates. Even though MSNBC pushed for the debate, the Democratic National Committee did not officially sanction the Thursday event until last Sunday, forcing the network to scramble this week amid Iowa caucus coverage. Another curve-ball was thrown when former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who was expected to attend the debate, suspended his Democratic presidential campaign Monday.

Todd, who is also the political director for NBC News, has spent two decades covering politics in a variety of roles. The 43-year-old journalist spent eight years as a White House correspondent at NBC and was once the editor-in-chief of the National Journal's The Hotline.

“You’ve got to remember who the audience is for the debate,” Todd told Women's Wear Daily in December. “The audience is, in this case, Republican primary voters or Democratic primary voters. I think it’s the responsibility of the debate moderator to not ask questions on the issues that are important to them, but on the issues that are important to the people who are actually making this decision. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to say, ‘OK, but how do you answer this charge in a general election?’ But, particularly with debates, you are the stand-in for the voter, and you always have to think that to yourself.”

The debate is scheduled to take place at the University of New Hampshire in Durham at 9 p.m. EST. It is the final debate before New Hampshire residents head to the polls Tuesday for the state’s primaries.