The placement of questions in verbal interaction is crucial in understanding their tactical potential and partially determinative of the forms they may take. The analysis in this article reveals that, in the 1992 vice presidential debate, Vice President Quayle and Senator Gore placed their questions in distinctively different ways, producing different interactional styles. Gore used his questions to set and hold topics, whereas Quayle used his questions to deflect topics proposed and pursued by Gore. These functions covary with different forms of question placement. The placement of a question also influenced the type of response that it could properly receive. In addition, question placement and other debate tactics were strongly influenced by the formal organization of the debate itself.