Clinton and Trump
The long-anticipated first faceoff between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump comes Monday night. What should we expect?
(Left: Andrew Harnik, AP Photo; Right: Evan Vucci, AP Photo)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - At last, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be on the same stage Monday night, debating each other in the first of three White House auditions.
The showdown at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., unquestionably is the most-anticipated political event in history and, when all is said and done, might be the most-watched.
Trump, of course, is the major reason why.
The Republican hopeful is a former reality TV ringmaster known for his schoolyard taunts and his incendiary - often racially charged - rhetoric. Clinton, the Democratic nominee and former secretary of state, has run a highly conventional campaign that seems quaint by comparison.
NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt will moderate the debate, which will focus on three themes: "America's Direction," "Achieving Prosperity" and "Securing America."
Here are three storylines to watch:
1. Which Trump will show up?
The primary debates were a piece of cake for Trump. He was always at center-stage, thanks to his high poll numbers. And his unfiltered style allowed him to stand out in the crowded GOP field and dominate the post-game coverage on the following morning's news shows.
But Trump rarely showed presidential temperament in those matches. The bullying and condescending tones he used to marginalize the likes of Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Marco Rubio won't work in a faceoff with the first woman to win a major party's nomination.
With Trump, though, you must always account for the unexpected. If he finds himself struggling, will he do something outrageous to ensure the headlines focus on the superficial and not the substance? The biggest surprise might be if there is no surprise from Trump.
And, yes, that ratchets up the expectations - perhaps unfairly - for Clinton.
2. How effectively can Clinton prosecute her case against Trump?
Trump hasn't shared his tax returns. He encourages bigotry, racism and xenophobia by taking hard lines on immigration and law enforcement and by peddling erroneous theories about President Barack Obama's citizenship. He can be stunningly glib on foreign policy.
Much of this would be fatal for another candidate. But Trump remains very much in contention, in part because few of the attacks Clinton has leveled have done lasting damage.
Some of this is Clinton's fault. She is not a perfect candidate. Her baggage - from Benghazi, to emails, to the Clinton Foundation - will be ripe for the picking Monday night, too. Even so, this will be her first chance to directly take on Trump. She cannot afford to waste the opportunity.
3. Will Holt keep them - Trump, in particular - honest?
Republicans remain sore about how Candy Crowley corrected Mitt Romney at a presidential debate four years ago when he accused Obama of belatedly calling the Benghazi attack an "act of terror." But why shouldn't the moderator play the role of instant fact-checker?
In this year of Trump, who lies and distorts the truth regularly, such vigilance is needed. And it was lacking recently when Holt's NBC colleague, Matt Lauer, didn't interject when Trump stated - falsely, during a televised forum - that he was "totally against the war in Iraq."
On a conference call Friday with reporters, Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri suggested she wants Holt to be more Crowley and less Lauer.
Palmieri said she hopes Holt will call out any Trump lies "in real time" and asserted that not doing so would give the Republican "an unfair advantage."