First Presidential Debate

Daily News Article   —   Posted on September 28, 2020

NOTE: Questions below include specific questions on the debate (link to PDF worksheet.)

(Compiled from Cleveland’s 19News and Investopedia) – Ohio Governor Mike DeWine will be sending the Ohio National Guard to Cleveland for the presidential debate on Sept. 29.

DeWine made the announcement at his Thursday news conference, saying he had received a formal request from Cleveland officials Wednesday evening.

Around 300 members will be sent to the city to “ensure a safe and secure environment for those attending Tuesday’s presidential debate in Cleveland.”

President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden’s first debate will be held at The Health Education Campus of Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic.  The debate is scheduled from 9-10:30 p.m. ET

The moderator for this first debate will be Fox news anchor Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday (who moderated the final 2016 presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton). Wallace is a registered Democrat and is seen by Trump supporters as having a strong dislike for Donald Trump, especially after a July interview. Former VP Biden has declined requests for interviews with Wallace over the past six months.

Mr. Wallace selected the topics for the debate, which were announced a week prior, and also created the questions, which will not be shared with either candidate ahead of time.

According to the CPD, this debate (and the third and final presidential debate) will be divided into six 15-minute long segments. Each segment will open with a question and each candidate will get two minutes to respond. Candidates will then be able to respond to each other with Wallace using the rest of the time for a deeper discussion of the topic.

Wallace released the topics on September 22. They include in no particular order:

  • The Trump and Biden Records
  • The Supreme Court
  • Covid-19
  • The Economy
  • Race and Violence in our Cities
  • The Integrity of the Election

Compiled from articles at Cleveland’s 19News and Investopedia. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.



Background

From StudentNewsDaily's Presidential Election page:

The Commission on Presidential Debates was established in 1987 under the joint sponsorship of the Democratic and Republican parties. It has sponsored all presidential and vice presidential general election debates since 1988. It sets the format/structure of each debate.

Interesting to note about the 2020 debates:

  • Unlike in years past, there is only one moderator in each debate, as the Commission on Presidential Debates, which says it is non-partisan, thinks that the Covid-19 pandemic necessitates having as few people onstage as possible.
  • The Trump campaign suggested moderators that included a number of Fox News hosts and conservative commentators. In response, the Commission said it would take “great care, as always, to ensure that the selected moderators are qualified and fair.” None of the campaign’s suggestions were invited to moderate.
  • Trump’s campaign also unsuccessfully lobbied for an additional debate, arguing there needed to be one earlier in September because the expansion of voting by mail means ballots could be decided earlier.  The Commission rejected that idea, noting the “difference between ballots having been issued by a state and those ballots having been cast by voters, who are under no compulsion to return their ballots before the debates.”
  • It is not known what the audience will look like for these debates, whether there will even be one, or even whether the candidates will appear virtually or together onstage.  The Trump campaign requested that both candidates appear onstage together. The Commission did not respond to that request, saying only that it will follow all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and that it has retained Cleveland Clinic as a health security adviser for the debates.

Presidential debate schedule:

  • September 29, 2020, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET,  Cleveland Ohio, Case Western Reserve University.
    Moderator: Chris Wallace, Fox News. (Wallace is a registered Democrat and is seen to have a strong dislike of Donald Trump.)  The debate will be 90 minutes long and have no commercial breaks. It will be divided into six 15-minute segments that the moderator gets to choose and is expected to announce at least a week before the debate.
  • October 15, 2020, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET,  Miami Florida, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
    Moderator: Steve Scully, C-SPAN.  The debate will be 90 minutes long and have no commercial breaks. This debate will be a town hall format, where people who live in the Miami area can pose questions.
  • October 22, 2020, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET, Nashville, TN, Belmont University.
    Moderator: Kristen Welker, NBC. The debate will be 90 minutes long and have no commercial breaks. It will be divided into six 15-minute segments that the moderator gets to choose and is expected to announce at least a week before the debate.

Vice presidential debate:

  • October 7, 2020, University of Utah. Moderator: Susan Page, USA Today. The debate will be 90 minutes long and have no commercial breaks. It will be divided into nine segments of 10 minutes each.