 presidential debates at one time there was a presidential debate where the candidates were in different rooms three thousand miles apart when Kennedy and Nixon appeared for the third debate nineteen sixty during that campaign they didn't share the same time zone let alone the same stage both men appeared behind podiums in similar looking television studios Kennedy was in New York Nixon in Hollywood the moderator and three panelists sat in a third television studio the good news for the candidates no awkward handshakes or forced smiles necessary