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Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the second presidential debate four years ago.
Source: PA Images
THE FIRST DEBATE of the US presidential election will take place in ten days.
The television showdown between Donald Trump and Joe Biden will be followed by two more debates over the next three weeks, with a vice presidential debate included there as well.
The tight schedule is part of the final stages of the race for the White House and could potentially be decisive in the abnormal circumstances of the Covid-19 affected campaign.
And on the subject of different circumstances, this year’s debates are likely to be different too. For example, each debate will have only one moderator; in other years there have been several.
So what do we know so far about the upcoming discussions?
When and where are they?
The first debate between Trump and Biden will take place on Tuesday of the week September 29th in Cleveland.
The second debate is two weeks later on Thursday. October 15th in Miami, the third and final debate on Thursday October 22 in Nashville.
The vice-presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris is sandwiched between the first two presidential debates on October 7 in Salt Lake City.
A note to anyone planning to watch them live, all discussions are scheduled to take place from 9 to 10:30 p.m. ET, which means it will be 2-3.30 am here in Ireland.
The 90-minute runtime has no ad breaks, making it a significant test of mental toughness for everyone involved.
Who organizes the debates?
The moderators of the most important debates are chosen by the Presidential Debate Commission (CPD), which has been in charge of organizing the debates since 1987.
There is only one moderator in each debate due to Covid-19 concerns and they have selected the following: Chris Wallace of Fox News for debate # 1, Steve Scully from C-Span for debate # 2 and Kristen Welker of NBC News for discussion # 3.
Susan Page from USA Today is moderating the vice-presidential debate, ensuring a balanced gender divide among the moderators.
While the CPD chooses the moderators, it is the moderators themselves who choose the topics to be discussed, and members of the public pose questions in one of the debates.
With the first debate just a week away, there will be a lot of pressure on Wallace to set the tone and standard for the weeks ahead.
While Fox News is regularly criticized for his production, Wallace has been known for his careful questioning of Trump in recent years and for hosting the final debate in 2016.
In July, Wallace conducted an irritable interview with Trump during which the president disagreed with the journalist’s questioning about the Covid-19 pandemic.
What format will the discussions have?
The first and third presidential debates will have the same format, as will the vice presidential debate.
There will be six segments of 15 minutes each on topics that will be selected by the moderator and announced at least one week in advance.
When the moderator asks a question, each candidate will have two minutes to respond before having a chance to answer each other.
The second debate in Miami will be different because it will be a “public meeting” style in which local voters can ask questions of the candidates.
Other than that, the format is the same where both candidates respond for two minutes before interacting with each other.
The moderator can intervene if necessary and also ask follow-up questions.
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Source: CNN / YouTube
CPD says that members of the public who ask questions are “unengaged voters” who are selected by the Gallup analytics company.
This format is the same one that was adopted four years ago when the undecided voter Ken Bone became the unexpected star of the Internet debate.
Warm ups
Before the first debate, both candidates have increased their face-to-face television time in preparation for the showdown.
On Tuesday, Trump participated in a televised town hall meeting with unengaged voters, hosted by George Stephanopoulos of ABC News.
Recorded at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, it featured Trump answering questions from an audience of just 21 voters in compliance with state and local regulations on coronavirus.
It was the first time Trump had faced direct questions from voters in months, and an opportunity for the Republican to test his message before critical debates.
Trump has been unusually quiet about his preparations for the first debate. On Tuesday, he told Fox News that he believes his day job is best practice for his three scheduled showdowns with Biden.
“Well, I prepare every day just by doing what I’m doing,” Trump said.
Biden had his own CNN town hall event Thursday during which he focused on Trump’s handling of the pandemic, calling him “criminal.”
The event took place in front of a wreath on the outskirts of Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and marked the first time that Biden faced live, unscripted questions from voters since winning the nomination.
As for debate strategy, Biden has promised to be an “on-stage fact-checker” with Trump, but has said he does not want to be involved in a “fight” with the Republican.
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