Eyes on Trump, Clinton as first debate arrives

HE first of three presidential debates, Monday night at Hofstra University, figures to be mustwatch television. But will it be make-or-break for either campaign?

Our sense is no, but that the debate figures to carry more weight for Democrat Hillary Clinton than for Republican Donald Trump.

Clinton, after all, is to do well. She has far more experience, having debated nearly 40 times as part of her 2000 U.S. Senate campaign and two tries for the presidency. She faced Barack Obama one-on-one on four occasions in 2008, and faced off against Bernie Sanders numerous times this year.

She will take the stage Monday after spending several days prepping intently with aides for this event. Clinton, who has seen her lead over Trump nearly disappear in several polls in the past month, sent an email to supporters last week noting her debate experience but also said this one is “the most important” yet.

Trump, on the other hand, appears to be taking a more relaxed approach. An article on NBC News’ website noted that Trump’s calendar for the weekend initially was clear, to allow for debate prep, but that the campaign added a rally in Virginia on Saturday night. Trump planned to prepare with the help of advisers, including campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, campaign CEO Steve Bannon and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

The commercial-free, 90-minute debate will include six, 15-minute segments. The topics are “America’s Direction,” “Achieving Prosperity” and “Securing America,” with two segments devoted to each. Those are broad categories that figure to lead in a number of directions, although terrorism and the economy — and how each candidate plans to deal with both — seem certain to play important roles.

There’s little reason to think Clinton won’t be anything but polished and articulate in promoting her positions or defending her record. To be determined is whether Trump can come across the same way, instead of resorting to snide retorts that may score points with his supporters but hurt him with the broader electorate.

National Review’s Rich Lowry argues that Trump “just needs to seem plausible,” and that he shouldn’t try to be the aggressor. “As long as he’s firm and calm, he is implicitly rebutting the case against him on temperament,” Lowry wrote.

Former pollster and campaign consultant Dick Morris suggests, among other things, that Trump should challenge Clinton to close the Clinton Foundation, tie her to Obamacare and play up his differences with Clinton regarding school choice. Ultimately, though, “All Trump needs to do is lay out positive proposals and avoid ratifying Hillary’s accusations” that he’s dangerous, sexist, lacking in temperament, etc., Morris said.

This is sound advice. Then again, it’s also possible that it won’t matter if Trump turns in a poor performance. During his 15 months in this race, during which he dispatched 15 GOP challengers, Trump has said and done any number of things that were thought to be damaging or perhaps even disqualifying. Yet now, six weeks from Election Day, facing a political machine like none other, he stands within a couple points of Clinton and clearly has Democrats concerned about the likelihood that he could win the presidency.