This could be one of Biden's biggest challenges tonight
From CNN's Arlette Saenz
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden arrives on his campaign plane at Nashville International Airport on Thursday in Nashville. Carolyn Kaster/AP
Joe Biden’s messaging for the past several months has been consistent – focusing on the coronavirus pandemic and the economy as he’s tried to turn the election into a referendum of President Trump's handling of the crisis.
It’s a contrast to the President, who has waged multiple lines of attacks on Biden to try to find something that will stick.
One of the challenges for Biden tonight is to not get bogged down in the directions President Trump might try to take this debate – including those personal attacks on his family.
One tactic Biden used during that first debate that he’s expected to repeat again tonight is looking directly into camera as he makes his case.
These were moments that the Biden campaign feels worked well for Biden last time around as he looked to connect with voters at home.
8:09 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020
Campaign advisers say Trump needs a breakout moment tonight
From CNN's Jim Acosta
Campaign advisers tell CNN they now believe it was a huge mistake for President Trump to cancel on last week’s debate, making a breakout moment a must tonight to shake up the race.
One adviser said Trump needs a “leadership moment” at the debate as Joe Biden is now seen as the front runner heading into the final stretch of this campaign.
A crucial focus for Trump tonight is to reach out to male voters, as advisers worry men — once a key demographic strength for Trump — may be slipping away from the President, as have suburban women and elderly voters.
Another adviser said if Trump fails in his mission tonight, watch for the President to become increasingly desperate in the final days of this campaign.
1:29 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020
Here's what the inside of the debate hall looks like
President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will debate soon in Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Both campaigns agreed that the acrylic glass that was once up in the debate hall was not needed and should be taken down, Frank Fahrenkopf, head of the debate commission, told CNN.
Fahrenkopf told CNN earlier today that the acrylic glass was put up at the recommendation of the medical advisers on the ground.
The commission also released some additional key details about tonight's debate, via pool:
The lecterns are 12’ 8” center to center from candidate to candidate.
The lecterns and the moderator's desk are about 16’ 8” apart.
Masks are required for everyone at all times and anyone who doesn’t oblige will be asked to leave. Also, everyone within the perimeter, and therefore any debate-related area, will be tested.
The first question will go to President Trump, and he will have the first two minutes of uninterrupted time.
Biden will then get the same question, and he will have two minutes of uninterrupted time.
Here's what the inside of the debate hall looks like:
The arena is set for the second presidential debate in the Curb Event Center on the campus of Belmont University October 22, in Nashville. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The acrylic glass dividers have been removed from the stage after both US President Donald Trump and Democratic Presidential candidate and former US Vice President Joe Biden had a negative test result for Covid-19 ahead of the final presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 22. Brendand Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
A debate official walks past spectator seating marked with signs observing social distancing requirements for the final debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden at Belmont University on Thursday. Patrick Semansky/AP
7:47 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020
What the road to the presidency looks like for both candidates
From CNN's Aditi Sangal
It takes at least 270 electoral votes for a presidential candidate to win the election.
CNN's John King takes a look at the states that are going to be key in former vice president Joe Biden and President Trump's possible paths to victory.
Watch:
7:34 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020
Trump and Biden's final debate starts soon. Here are key things to watch for.
From CNN's Gregory Krieg, Eric Bradner and Dan Merica
President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will face off shortly for their final presidential debate before the election.
The second debate, scheduled for last week, was canceled after the President tested positive for the coronavirus and subsequently refused to take part in a virtual meeting.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has given the green light to an in-person face-off, but with one unprecedented change: The candidates will have their microphones cut off while their opponents respond to the first question of each of the debate's six segments.
The topics slated for discussion over 90 uninterrupted minutes, beginning at 9 p.m. ET, include "Fighting COVID-19," "American Families," "Race in America," "Climate Change," "National Security" and "Leadership."
But that's just where the moderator, NBC's Kristen Welker, will begin. Where the candidates go from there, especially in Trump's case, is the wild card.
Debate rules: In order to enforce the debate's rule, the commission has resorted to something familiar to a country operating by video conferences: The mute button. But there are questions over how effective the new guardrails will really be. Trump and his allies have been teeing up his plans to attack Welker and the commission by flouting the rules wherever they can. How Trump executes that strategy could provide the voters who haven't already cast a ballot with their last memory of the President before they make a decision.
How Trump handles coronavirus questions: Trump wants to avoid the constant drumbeat of coronavirus news. Surging numbers across the country — including swing states central to his victory — make that impossible. Coronavirus remains the most important issue in the minds of voters. How Trump handles questions about the issue will have significant implications in this election.
Biden tries to pass one more test: Thursday night's debate is effectively the last major hurdle that must be cleared by Biden, a candidate who — despite his reputation for gaffes, and some minor stumbles along the way — has largely stuck to the same message since launching his campaign in April 2019. If Biden emerges largely unscathed tonight, he'll likely have successfully weathered every key moment with the potential to alter the dynamics of a presidential race polls show he is winning.
How Biden handles personal attacks: In the alternate universe of right-wing media, Biden is currently embroiled in scandal — most of it focusing on unproven allegations about his son Hunter Biden. There's also a bogus "Obamagate" conspiracy theory that Trump has promoted, despite its underpinnings all having been knocked down in the real world. None of it seems to have moved voters who aren't already part of Trump's base, and attacking Biden's surviving son could also backfire. But Trump is sure to try to use it all to attack Biden — a candidate who has at times flashed a temper.
Who will they direct their closing statements to? With the beginning of early in-person voting and millions of American casting their ballots by mail, the number of undecided voters still up for grabs is likely much smaller than it was just a few weeks ago. Even in more conventional circumstances, debates are as much about narrowcasting your message to potential supporters as they are about "winning" the argument on a given issue.
The Curb Event Center is lit in red and white lights two days before the second presidential debate October 20 in Nashville. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Inside Joe Biden's house in Wilmington, Delaware, Bob Bauer, the typically soft-spoken veteran Democratic attorney, goes on the attack against the former vice president.
Bauer interrupts and shouts down Biden, who is trying to formulate his arguments for why he should be president.
Bauer is playing the role of President Trump during mock debate prep — often embodying the President as he behaved during the first debate in order to prepare Biden stay on message in the event that Trump blows through new measures put in place by the Commission on Presidential Debates to prevent interruptions.
Team Biden is worried that the plan to mute candidates during portions of the debate will not help with the distraction factor. Even if the audience at home can't hear the President's microphone if he interrupts Biden, the Democratic nominee will be standing right there and will hear him loud and clear. Paying no attention to the man next to him is a significant part of Biden's prep for going into the ring with the President one last time.
Biden and Trump are heading into their final planned showdown of the 2020 campaign, with 12 days to go until Election Day. And their respective teams are studying the first debate, which delved into chaos as Trump continually interrupted Biden. The lessons gleaned from that initial matchup are informing the recommendations being made to the candidates as they prepare to take the stage one last time.
Trump's advisers are have pleaded with the President to try a different tactic this time around.
Republican sources tell CNN that not only did the President's internal polling numbers drop because of his erratic performance during the first debate, his fellow Republicans down ballot, especially vulnerable Republican senators, also took a hit in their own polling because of Trump's behavior on stage with Biden.
Kellyanne Conway, who was part of the team that helped prepare the President for the first debate inside the White House map room, said she warned him not to interrupt too much.
"My last piece of advice to the President, which I shared with him directly and I shared with him before the first debate, let Biden speak," Conway relayed in an interview.
Conway and other Trump advisers are renewing their argument to him ahead of the last debate that the more Trump let's Biden speak, the worse it is for Biden.
Campaigns' focus: Women are pivotal, but college-educated men are a key audience
From CNN's Jeff Zeleny
For all of the campaign’s focus on suburban women, the Trump and Biden campaigns are laser-focused on men in the closing days of the race.
Talking to advisers from both campaigns, their strategies for tonight come into sharper view: President Trump wants to try — once again — to prevent any more erosion to former vice president Joe Biden. He’s particularly concerned about college-educated men, so Trump is poised to sound the alarm about tax increases under Biden and Democrats.
Joe Biden is also hoping to speak to men tonight, intent on hammering home that only households making over $400,000 would see any tax increase.
The bottom line: So many women have decided. Men are key in the final stretch.
7:18 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020
Biden ran through mock debates preparing for Trump's attacks and interruptions
From CNN's Arlette Saenz
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden waves as he boards his campaign plane at New Castle Airport on October 22, in New Castle, Delaware. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spent three days off the campaign trail, gearing up for tonight’s debate. A Biden adviser said the former vice president held mock debates, running through scenarios where the President continues his interruptions – even if they might not be heard by voters over the television.
Biden expects the President to launch personal attacks on his family once again – a strategy that Biden’s advisers believes backfires on the president.
Biden allies have said they don’t expect the former vice president to try to turn the tables on President Trump and his family, with Sen. Chris Coons telling CNN he doesn’t think Biden will “take the bait.”
Instead Biden’s advisers and allies say he plans to turn this back to the issues impacting American families – Covid-19 and the economy, and Biden’s guests tonight reflect that push.
The former vice president has invited Zweli and Leonardo Williams of Durham, North Carolina, whose small business has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic – the types of voters Biden hopes to speak to tonight as he makes his closing case in the waning days of the election.
6:56 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020
Trump's guests will comply with wearing masks in debate, White House chief of staff says
CNN's Aditi Sangal
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows wears a protective mask as he departs the Senate Republican policy luncheon in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on October 21 in Washington. Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images
After a Covid-19 outbreak at the White House, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows says wearing masks “is not the panacea” to make sure the virus doesn’t spread.
“Will it help in confined spaces? Certainly, it helps,” he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. “But we also need to understand that wearing a mask — if we could say, ‘we mandate masks and everybody can go back to work,’ then that would be something to consider. But even the doctors, even Dr. Fauci would say that that is not something that would protect all Americans.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, has recommended wearing masks to combat the spread of coronavirus on multiple occasions.
Meadows was also asked if he alongside Trump's family and guests will wear masks this time in the debate hall after some from Trump's entourage failed to do so during the first presidential debate.
“That's part of the rules this time. It was not mandatory last time,” he said. “It’s mandatory for anyone in the audience to wear a mask. So, we'll comply with that.”
