Debate countdown

The first presidential debate of this general election is coming up and both campaigns have long been finished with the preparations. Candidates are getting rest, focusing on key themes, and getting revved up for the showdown.

With the hours ticking down to the presidential debate, both campaigns say the intense practice and strategy sessions are over.

According to veterans of this grueling process, this is the time when the candidates simply try to stay relaxed and focused. "It's an hour and a half on national television, not looking at your wrist watch hopefully, knowing that your slightest misstatement could be spun by the other side," says Republican Stragetist Frank Donatelli. "It really requires a level, a tremendous level of concentration.”

For the last several weeks, President Bush and John Kerry have both reviewed videotapes of the other, and have conducted debate practice sessions with live stand-ins. New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg pretended to be John Kerry, while former Clinton lawyer Greg Craig took on the role of President Bush.

The aggressive exercise is supposed to sharpen and discipline each candidate’s response. The practice sessions are also intended to eliminate certain words or phrases. “When you are talking about social security, you never talk about 'privatizing' social security, you talk about 'strengthening' social security,” says Donatelli.

“You don’t call the president 'a liar,'" says Democratic strategist Steve McMahon. "'To a lot of people that seems very harsh and over the top.  But you can suggest the president doesn’t tell the truth about important facts, fudges facts, or hides them.”

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By now, both President Bush and John Kerry may be ready with their one-liners— if the opening presents itself.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

The candidates will go into the debate with an over-all message that ties everything together. “A framing statement, a positioning statement, something that he’s comfortable returning to again and again that defines the difference in this race,” says McMahon.

After Watergate, Carter said he would never lie.After Carter, Reagan hit hard on the economy with his famous line, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

For this debate, foreign policy will be center stage.  The question is, will either candidate connect in the way that their campaigns are counting on?