History will be made this coming Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia.
The two oldest candidates ever to run for President of the United States will face-off in the earliest general election debate in US TV history.
I, for one, can’t wait to watch and I won’t be alone. Tens of millions of people will be watching, maybe a hundred million.
Here’s the most important thing to keep in mind. The only thing at stake in this debate are the voters whose minds have not been made up, yet. They are the independent voters in the key swing states. Everyone else is locked in with one of these guys, whom we already know way too much about.
Having said that, the 90-minutes on CNN on Thursday evening can be super fun to watch, if you have the insider’s guide. And that’s where I come in.
During my TV news career, I was involved in staging several political debates. And let me tell you, setting the ground rules is crucial for the candidates and hell for the producers.
Here’s just one example: In the 2018 New York Democrat primary for governor between incumbent Andrew Cuomo and challenger Cynthia Nixon, getting Cuomo to debate at all was a feat in and of itself. He kept refusing, believing he had nothing to gain and everything to lose. I finally got him to agree, but the staging for the event was a nightmare.
Cuomo demanded he and Nixon sit behind desks and not stand at podiums. He wouldn’t budge.
Nixon, was miffed at this seeming advantage for Cuomo, so she put up her own demand. Claiming gender inequality, she insisted the venue not be overcooled, citing a study that women are less likely to be comfortable in an air conditioned environment than are men.
When we finally got the seating arrangement solved and the thermostat set to the proper temp, the debate went off without a hitch. It wasn’t must see TV, but at least the New York voters got to judge the two candidates outside of their attack ads and stump speeches.
So here’s what you should be attuned to during Thursday’s presidential debate.
Both candidates will be standing at podiums, Trump on the left of your TV screen and Biden on the right.
Biden won the coin toss and picked the right side, the same place he stood for the debate four years ago.
But now, in this election where both his leadership strength and his physical strength are issues, I think standing camera right is a mistake.
In the English language, we read and write from left to right. Our eyes naturally scan that way. I always put my stronger anchorperson camera left on the anchor desk. I believed it gave the newscast more credibility.
It’s a little thing but I would have advised Biden to be on the other side of the stage.
Here’s a big thing.
The candidates are not allowed to bring any notes with them. So unless Biden etches some hidden codes on his fingernails, this rule clearly favors Trump.
Why? Well, it’s pretty obvious. Biden can’t ad lib. He can’t remember stuff. His public appearances are tightly controlled and scripted. He reads off cue cards even when he calls on a reporter. The rumor is he has to bring a cheat sheet with him when he needs to go to the White House men’s room. Okay, I just made that up.
On the other hand, riff-master Trump never uses notes, not because he has any grasp whatsoever of the issues and details, but because he likes to make stuff up as he goes along. For Trump, it’s one big TV show, it’s all performative. In Trump’s world, facts are overrated.
No notes allowed? Score one for Trump.
Here are some more debate rules. The microphones will be cut off after each candidate speaks, plus there will be no audience to cheer, jeer or throw shoes.
Now think about that for a moment. On the face of it, you’d assume that rule favors Biden.
Why? You’ll remember their last debate when Trump was so rude and overbearing, Biden said to him will you shut up, man? For a sometimes befuddled Biden, the mic cut-off that rule will give him a chance to make a point without being thrown off his well-rehearsed answers.
But here’s where that mic cutoff thing could possibly help Trump.
It may help him come off as less obnoxious. He can’t interrupt. And, if he is perceived as less combative, more under control, he could sway independent voters who may like his policies but can’t stand him.
No audience, however, favors Biden. Trump loves the energy an audience provides, whether they’re for him or against him. It keeps him going. Ninety minutes in TV land is a long time and Trump could lose interest with no audience to feed off. Could he become frustrated enough to tank the rest of the debate? With Trump, you never know, so stay tuned.
Trump won the right to have the final say at the end of the debate. That’s like an attorney’s closing statement. It’s important. If he acts like a normal human being (yeah, I know), going last could be an advantage for him. It’s what will stick in the voters minds after the debate is over, while the spinmeisters tell us who won, who lost and what to think.
It’s a risk for both candidates to debate so early in the campaign.
For Joe Biden, he can show the undecided voters and the Democrats that are losing confidence in his cognitive abilities, that he still has some gas left in the tank, that he’s not auditioning for Weekend at Bernie’s 3. And if he does implode while tens of millions of people watch, he’ll at least have some make-up time before November.
For Donald Trump, he needs to convince the swing voters that he won’t wreck the republic and that he’ll make rational, responsible decisions in a very dangerous world. That if they vote for him they won’t need to do a full body Purell job. These critical voters aren’t happy about the economy, immigration and the overall direction of the country, but they are worried about another, possibly even crazier four years of Trump.
For the moderators, CNN’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, it goes without saying they need to play it straight down the middle. They must demand real answers from both of the candidates, and if both sides come away bitching that they were roughed up, then Tapper and Bash have done their job well.
So, here we go. On Thursday night at 9pm eastern time, get comfy in your Barcalounger, grab a cold beer and watch while the men who hold the future of our country disputate, altercate and bloviate.
My official debate prediction? You’re gonna need more than a beer.