Clinton, Trump in virtual dead heat

Washington, September 25 

US Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are preparing for what may turn out to be the most important 90 minutes of American political history, set to unfold on Monday.

Republican Trump and Democrat Clinton will face off for the first time in the first of three scheduled presidential debates on Monday at the Hofstra University on Long Island, New York.

According to analysts, this debate could turn out to be the most watched events in television history with an audience expected to exceed 100 million. It could beat a record set in 1980 when 80 million Americans watched Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan battle it out, CBS News reported.

Trump has began preparations in earnest on Friday when he finally broke from his hectic campaign schedule for a day without any public or private events so he could focus on his presentation for the 90-minute event that will begin at 9 pm (local time), with no commercial interruptions, the Guardian reported.

Clinton, in contrast, has spent most of this week with close aides at her Dutch colonial home in Chappaqua, a hamlet north of New York city.

According to sources, Trump has been watching videos of Clinton's best and worst debate moments, looking for her vulnerabilities, the New York Times said.

The analysts have said the two candidates were taking vastly different approaches and their divergent strategies revealed how the two and their campaigns see the race, their strengths and their opponents' weaknesses.

Clinton's campaign has revealed that advisors to the former First Lady were hurling a host of 'Trumpian' assaults and counter attacks at her to test her responses and adjust them as needed.

Clinton is eager to play offense and try to get under his skin, by doing things like calling him "Donald" and questioning his net worth, the New York Times quoted campaign officials as saying.

"I'll tell you I am going to do my very best to communicate as clearly and fearlessly as I can in the face of the insults and the attacks and the bullying and bigotry that we've seen coming from my opponent," she said during a radio interview earlier this week.

Trump's campaign does not want to fill his head with facts and figures, but instead, they want him to practice staying focused on bigger themes, such as jobs, terrorism, protecting the homeland and closing borders, rather than picking fights on side issues.

Working on her strategy, Clinton and her advisers have written out dozens of answers, and has tested some attack lines on the campaign trail to see what might work in the debate. 

If Trump expresses admiration for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, she is prepared to evoke the hero of the Republican Party: "What would Ronald Reagan say about a Republican nominee who attacks American generals and heaps praise on Russia's president?" as she recently said. — IANS

Three debates: Understanding the candidates

The first presidential debate will be held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. It will begin at 9 pm on Monday (6.30 am IST on Tuesday) and run through 90 minutes. The second debate will be at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri on October 9. The third and final Presidential Debate will be at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 19. The aim of these debates is to get a clear-cut understanding of how do the candidates differ from each other on all the issues that will be thrown at them. 

Will third-party candidates participate?

Green Party nominee Jill Stein and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson will not join Trump and Clinton on the debate stage on Monday. The Commission on Presidential Debates announced earlier this month that Johnson and Stein failed to meet the 15 per cent threshold in polling support needed to earn a debate spot. 

How will it be structured?

The debate will be divided into six 15-minute-long segments focusing on the major topics. The moderator will open each segment with a question, to which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. Candidates will then have the opportunity to respond to each other 

The moderater 

NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt has been selected to serve as moderator for the first of the three presidential debates.

The topics

The first presidential debate is expected to focus on three major subjects: America's direction, achieving prosperity and securing America. The topics, however, could be subject to change