Feisty Clinton puts Trump on defensive

Hempstead, September 27 

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump today battled it out in front of millions of undecided American voters over racism, terror and temperament in their first presidential debate with the media declaring the Democratic nominee as the winner of the fiery contest.

Edit: Clinton wins the debate

The 90-minute clash, watched by an expected television audience of up to 100 million, saw the 68-year-old former Secretary of State and the 70-year-old Republican nominee, who have attacked each other for months in separate campaigns, taking the stage together here for the first time to woo a substantial chunk of voters who remain undecided ahead of the November 8 poll.

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The CNN/ORC poll declared Clinton as the clear winner in the first of a series of three debates, with a massive 62 per cent of voters giving an edge to the Democrat over the reality TV star, who was deemed winner by only 27 per cent.

The two candidates indulged in a series of combative, acrimonious exchanges as the battle turned personal, with the controversial real estate mogul questioning the “stamina” of the former Secretary of State after her recent bout of pneumonia.

Clinton smiled through the insults and landed jabs of her own to put Trump on the defensive over his temperament, refusal to release his taxes and his past comments on race and women. Trump said he would release his tax returns if Clinton released her 33,000 emails deleted by her .

The two leaders came face-to-face for the first of the three presidential debates at Hofstra University in Hempstead near New York City. They projected themselves as best-prepared to lead the nation. Clinton accused Trump of being “anti-women” and challenged his allegations that she lacked the stamina to be the commander-in-chief.

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