ST LOUIS, MO - OCTOBER 09: CNN moderator Anderson Cooper (R) and ABC moderator Martha Raddatz (L) appear on stage during the second presidential debate with democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at Washington University on October 9, 2016 in St Louis, Missouri. This is the second of three presidential debates scheduled prior to the November 8th election. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

At center, ABC moderator Martha Raddatz appears on stage during the second presidential debate at Washington University on Oct. 9, 2016, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Unlike  absentee moderator Lester Holt at the first presidential debate, Martha Raddatz of ABC News is providing a strong, commanding performance tonight, refusing (at least some of the time) to let candidates run away with questions and equivocate.

Raddatz has homed in on Donald Trump’s tendency to speak in the blurriest of generalities, answering specific policy questions with long, vague, semi-coherent rants. This came to a head during a portion of the evening about a specific diplomatic and military policy in Syria, wherein Raddatz answered Trump’s answer by simply (and powerfully) repeating the ignored question (“What is your strategy?”) and drilling him on strategy details (“What do you think will happen if Aleppo falls?”). The line of questioning prompted Trump to admit that he hasn’t even spoken with his running mate, Mike Pence, on Syria. Raddatz’s strength has provided some of the only — if only for a sliver of a moment — insight of the evening.