CLASH OF THE CANDIDATES
Clinton and Trump face challenges in the first presidential debate
WASHINGTON — When Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump square off at Hofstra University in New York for the first presidential debate of the general election Monday night, the stakes — and the television ratings — will be sky high.
The prime-time faceoff between the former Democratic U.S. senator and secretary of state, and the unorthodox Republican businessman marks the first time the two candidates will spar on a national stage in a formal debate. The moment is expected to draw the biggest television ratings for a debate since Ronald Reagan squared off against Jimmy Carter in 1980. NBC’s Lester Holt will moderate the 90-minute debate, which begins at 7 p.m. MDT.
Both candidates were busy prepping for the debate late last week as their surrogates sought to frame the event in terms favorable to their candidate.
Sean Spicer, chief strategist for the Republican National Committee, issued a memo Thursday that aimed to lower expectations for Trump, who is making his first bid for political office.
“Clinton is a career politician who has spent years sharpening her debate reflexes and beefing up on public policy,” Spicer wrote in the memo. “Donald Trump is new to the format. Aside from the primary debates (which have lower levels of attention focused on them and many more participants), Trump’s lack of formal, political, one-on-one debate experience gives Clinton a significant advantage.
“Trump hasn’t been running for president for 24 years. He’s spent his career as a successful businessman.”
Meanwhile, Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters on a conference call Friday that Holt, the moderator, has a duty to call Trump out if he asserts falsehoods during the debate.
“For the moderator to let lies … go unchallenged would give Donald Trump an unfair advantage,” Palmieri said. “We do believe it is the role of
the moderator to call out those lies and to do that in real time. She (Clinton) will respond when he misrepresents her own record but, given the historic nature of how much Donald Trump lies, it cannot be only on her.”
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Trump has been gaining ground in several crucial battlegrounds, including Florida, Iowa and Ohio, over the past two weeks, though a national NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday showed Clinton with a six-point lead nationally, 43 percent to 37 percent.
But Rasmussen Reports’ weekly White House Watch telephone and online survey last week found Trump with 44 percent support among likely U.S. voters to Clinton’s 39 percent. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee and a former New Mexico governor, was at 9 percent in the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, while the Green Party’s Jill Stein was at 3 percent.
Johnson has been fighting for inclusion in the debates, but he did not meet the 15 percent polling threshold required to be included in the first matchup. His campaign said it is hopeful he can boost his polling numbers sufficiently before the next presidential debate Oct. 9.
Lonna Atkeson, director of the Center for the Study of Voting, Elections and Democracy at the University of New Mexico, said Clinton’s most urgent challenge in Monday’s debate is to appeal to younger voters, who have been persistently lukewarm about her candidacy.
“Clinton wants to connect with millennials,” Atkeson said.
So-called millennial voters were widely credited with helping President Barack Obama win election in 2008 and 2012, but that enthusiasm has not transferred to the current Democratic candidate. Atkeson also said Clinton, who recently suffered a bout of pneumonia and has battled persistent questions about her health, needs to appear robust.
“It’s important for her not to look ill,” Atkeson said.
She said Trump, who is famous for bombastic and often angry outbursts, needs to keep his cool to come across as presidential.
“He just has to not lose it,” Atkeson said, adding that the Hofstra University event Monday will mark the first time he has met a Democrat in a formal debate.
Trump did participate in a long series of debates with Republicans earlier this year, but Atkeson said “that’s very different than a one-on-one debate.”
New Mexicans — like many Americans — will be watching the first of three presidential debates with great interest. The Clinton campaign is hosting debate watch parties across the state, with one in Albuquerque scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. at the Albuquerque Teachers Federation, 530 Jefferson St. NE.
The Republican Party of New Mexico is hosting a watch party from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the GOP headquarters at 5150 San Francisco Rd. NE #A. A $5 contribution is suggested.