HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- What's up with Candy Crowley of CNN? Turns out the moderator of Tuesday's presidential debate sent people flocking to the Internet to find out more about her.

Yahoo! reports searches for "Candy Crowley" were up 578% on Tuesday, as she prepared to moderate the town hall-style debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney. Searches for Crowley exceeded those for Jim Lehrer of PBS and Martha Raddatz of ABC News, who posed questions at the first Obama vs. Romney face off and the vice presidential debate, respectively.

Crowley will choose the questions being posed by undecided voters and ask follow-ups. "This is about their questions but you also want to use your knowledge to make (the candidates' responses) not the two-minute answers that they're practicing in their headquarters right now," she told USA TODAY in an interview published Monday.

Concerns had been raised by the campaigns about Crowley asking follow ups, which the Commission on Presidential Debates dismissed. David Axelrod, Obama's chief campaign strategist, tweeted on Monday afternoon: "Enough already about moderators. POTUS is ready for a vigorous debate and Q's from all comers!"

Catalina Camia, USA TODAY