The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Big guns wheeled out
United States: Facts – and who will check them – are focus of debate
Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump deployed their top supporters to the US prime-time TV shows to take early jabs at their rival and lower expectations for a live-on-TV showdown expected to draw 75million viewers
Both camps know that many of the viewers of the campaign’s first TV debate are disenchanted with both candidates, who are the least popular presidential hopefuls in history.
Facts and who will determine them during the 90minute debate seemed to be a top concern of the campaigns’ strategists.
Robby Mook, Mrs Clinton’s campaign manager, told ABC’s This Week that he is concerned Mr Trump will continue his habit of sometimes saying things that are not true and still get a positive verdict from the TV audience.
He called on the debate’s moderator Lester Holt to correct any inaccuracies made by the candidates.
But Mr Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said it was not the job of debate moderators to fact-check.
The man who is moderating the third and final presidential debate, Chris Wallace of Fox News, reckons it’s not his job to confirm the veracity of candidates’ assertions during the debate itself.
“I do not believe it's my job to be a truth squad. It's up to the other person to catch them on that," said the moderator.
“I’m certainly going to try to maintain some reasonable semblance of equal time.
“If one of them is filibustering, I'm going to try to break in respectfully and give the other person a chance to talk."
Mr Trump’s vice-presidential running mate, Mike Pence, meanwhile, said that Gennifer Flowers would not attend the debate.
Mr Trump had tweeted that if frequent Trump critic Mark Cuban attended the showdown, he would put Ms Flowers, allegedly the former mistress of Mrs Clinton’s husband Bill, in the audience too.
Ms Conway said that Ms Flowers had a right to be there if “somebody else gives her a ticket”. But Mr Pence drew a harder line.
“Gennifer Flowers will not be attending the de-
“Trump is an experienced reality show entertainer so he may decide this is a chance”
bate,” Mr Pence said on Fox News Sunday.
On ABC, Ms Conway defended the tweet, saying Mr Trump “wants to remind people that he’s a great counter-puncher”.
Mrs Clinton’s campaign manager said her priority during the debate will be explaining her policies to the American public.
Mr Mook said that Mrs Clinton knows she needs to earn voters’ trust. He said: “We want this to be about the issues. We want both candidates to explain their plans to the American people.”
Mr Mook said his primary concern is that Mr Trump will get “the ‘most improved’ award”, but Mrs Clinton will get judged on “the fine points of policy”.
He added: “Donald Trump is an experienced reality show entertainer so he may decide this chance to show chops.”
He said the campaign wants Mrs Clinton “to have as much time as possible to talk about how she’s going to make a difference”.
Meanwhile, Ms Conway said she is confident Mr Trump will do well in his debate with Mrs Clinton, saying the “natural connective is a his tissue he has with people” will be on display.
She also said she expects Mr Trump to say more about his plan to defeat the Islamic State group. She said “he’ll be happy to offer specifics without telling the enemy what we’re going to do”.
Speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Ms Conway said that “people are just amazed” that Mrs Clinton outlined her strategy against IS on her website.
Asked about Mr Trump’s preparations for the prime time television face-off, she said he has studied the issues and “I can see that this man is ready for tonight”.