Here’s what Trump and Clinton should keep in mind at first debate
WASHINGTON
Hillary Clinton needs to put a smile on her face. Donald Trump needs to avoid saying anything at all about her face.
Those are two of the tips from insiders for the major party candidates as they head toward their first, potentially pivotal debate. Among the others: They need to be careful. The public knows the two presidential candidates unusually well, so if they suddenly seem to be undergoing personality shifts, they’ll stumble.
“Trump’s got to worry about being overprepared and overtrained,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally. “You can’t stand there and try to remember what some adviser told you to say.”
Clinton has to avoid trying to become a blunt-talking personality like Trump. At the same time, she can’t be too detailed. “She doesn’t want to overtalk things,” said Steve Schale, who ran President Barack Obama’s 2008 Florida campaign.
Clinton and Trump are scheduled to debate for the first time on Sept. 26. They will face off again on Oct. 9 and 19. These, say the experts, are the key takeaways from 2016 campaign debates gone by:
Don’t get too personal
It’s one thing to challenge a rival’s public record, but quite another to insult them personally. Trump’s lowest debate moment came a year ago.
He had criticized rival Carly Fiorina’s face before the debate, and at the debate, Fiorina hit back hard, “Women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said,” Fiorina said icily. Trump backed off, saying Fiorina’s “got a beautiful face.”
Fiorina’s response “wasn’t thought of in advance, tested with a focus group or written by Hollywood elites – it was Carly being Carly,” recalled Fred Sadler, her campaign manager. It gave her a brief boost into the GOP top tier, though she soon faded after controversy over her anti-abortion rhetoric.
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Lesson from the 2016 debates: Be yourself and control the agenda | McClatchy DC
WASHINGTON
Hillary Clinton needs to put a smile on her face. Donald Trump needs to avoid saying anything at all about her face.
Those are two of the tips from insiders for the major party candidates as they head toward their first, potentially pivotal debate. Among the others: They need to be careful. The public knows the two presidential candidates unusually well, so if they suddenly seem to be undergoing personality shifts, they’ll stumble.
“Trump’s got to worry about being overprepared and overtrained,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally. “You can’t stand there and try to remember what some adviser told you to say.”
Clinton has to avoid trying to become a blunt-talking personality like Trump. At the same time, she can’t be too detailed. “She doesn’t want to overtalk things,” said Steve Schale, who ran President Barack Obama’s 2008 Florida campaign.
Clinton and Trump are scheduled to debate for the first time on Sept. 26. They will face off again on Oct. 9 and 19. These, say the experts, are the key takeaways from 2016 campaign debates gone by:
Don’t get too personal
It’s one thing to challenge a rival’s public record, but quite another to insult them personally. Trump’s lowest debate moment came a year ago.
He had criticized rival Carly Fiorina’s face before the debate, and at the debate, Fiorina hit back hard, “Women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said,” Fiorina said icily. Trump backed off, saying Fiorina’s “got a beautiful face.”
Fiorina’s response “wasn’t thought of in advance, tested with a focus group or written by Hollywood elites – it was Carly being Carly,” recalled Fred Sadler, her campaign manager. It gave her a brief boost into the GOP top tier, though she soon faded after controversy over her anti-abortion rhetoric.
more
Lesson from the 2016 debates: Be yourself and control the agenda | McClatchy DC
