Debate moderator tells Gephardt: "It should have been you up there" By Deborah Peterson 10/10/2004 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/debpeterson/story/2A03A9BD4839815886256F28001DA9CB?OpenDocument&Headline=Debate+moderator+tells+Gephardt%3A+%22It+should+have+been+you+up&highlight=2%2Cgephardt UN-DEB-ATE-ABLE: With St. Louis in a tizzy over the second presidential debate Friday night, it was no wonder that some of our town's best and brightest were spotted mingling with the nation's leaders at the Washington University athletic center. It was also a time to put aside partisan political differences and to bask in the national glow that the debate and the hometown baseball team had brought to town. Favorite son Rep. Richard Gephardt was surrounded nearly everywhere he went by U.S. senators and lawmakers, reporters and former staffers, all wanting to wish him well. A high point of his popularity was evidenced after the debate when ABC newsman and debate moderator Charles Gibson said to Gephardt in a private moment: "It should have been you up there - things would have been different."