Good Tuesday morning.
For days now, everyone – and by everyone, I mostly mean the media talking heads – has been fixated on the big face-off that’s going to take place tonight between the major party presidential nominees: Vice President Kamala Harris (Democrat) and former President Donald Trump (Republican).
PSA: The debate will take place at 9 p.m. EST at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA – a hotly contended swing state where both candidates have spent a considerable amount of time campaigning of late. For those keeping score at home, the Democrats won PA in 2020 presidential race, while the GOP took it in 2016.
The debate will be 90 minutes long and include two commercial breaks. It will be moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, but there will be no live audience in attendance. Each candidate will have two minutes to answer questions and two minutes to give rebuttals, plus an additional minute for clarifications and/or follow ups.
Given the fact that it was a debate performance – or lack thereof – that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for President Joe Biden re-election campaign, and the fact that the race is basically a dead heat, the stakes in the mano a mano are indeed high.
Whatever honeymoon period and momentum Harris enjoyed out of the gate appears to have dissipated. It hasn’t helped matters than she refuses to sit for extended one-on-one media interviews, perhaps feeding the voter sentiment that they don’t know enough about her yet to feel comfortable voting for her.
Before you come at me, yes, I am aware that Harris did a sit-down interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, but she wasn’t alone. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was also on hand, though she admittedly did most of the talking.
There was some question as to whether this debate would even happen, since the Harris and Trump campaigns couldn’t get on the same page related to muted mics. In the end, the Harris camp was unable to sway ABC News, tonight’s debate host, to keep the mics unmuted for 1.5 hours.
Also, for a while there early on, Trump himself publicly waffled back and forth as to whether he would show up.
I personally find the run-up to the debate a little tedious. All this breathless “which Trump will show up – the angry version or the happy version” speculation and “can Harris bring it to him while also maintaining her composure” speculation leaves me a little cold.
I am, however, very interested in how the candidates are doing their debate prep. The theater of it all – with stand-ins pretending to be the opposition (for Harris, anyway) and trying to game out how the other side will attack and respond – is fascinating.
With all the ink and air time dedicated to the lead-up to the presidential debate, one might think that this is a long-standing tradition that is deeply etched in the political process. Au contraire.
The practice really got off the ground in 1960, when John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon faced one another not one, not two, but FOUR times in the first-ever general election televised debates between two presidential candidates.
More than 65 million people tuned in to watch, which didn’t bode well for Nixon, whose performance and appearance – at least compared to the young, energetic and handsome Kennedy – were less than stellar.
But it wasn’t until 16 years later that the practice resurfaced when Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford went head-to-head at The Walnut Theater in Philadelphia. That was almost 50 years ago. Hopefully the technological capabilities have improved considerably since then and things go a lot smoother tonight than they did for Ford and Carter.
A fairly nice – and warmer – day is on tap, with sunny skies and highs in the mid 70s.
In the headlines…
Former President Donald Trump has escalated his vows to use the raw power of the state to impose and maintain control and to intimidate and punish anyone he perceives as working against him.
The Trump campaign promoted an outlandish false claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, have abducted and eaten their neighbors’ pets, again demonizing migrants as the campaign seeks to attack Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration.
Trump repeated his false claim that children are undergoing transition-related surgery during their school day, worsening conservative fears that educators are pushing children to become trans and aiding transitions without parental awareness.
With President Joe Biden no longer in the race, Trump would be the oldest person ever to serve in the Oval Office. But his rambling, sometimes incoherent public statements have stirred concern among voters.
Heading into tonight’s high-stakes debate, the mood in the Democratic party remains upbeat. But with polls looking tight, concerns are starting to seep in.
Kamala Harris is trying to get into Trump’s head before the debate, rolling out a new ad featuring scathing assessments of the former president from some former top officials in his administration.
Harris finally added policies to her campaign website for the first time since Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her in the presidential race 50 days ago.
Though Trump had a 2-point lead in a poll from The New York Times/Siena College released on Sunday, Harris maintains a national lead of between 1 and 3 percentage points on average. The battleground states remain extremely competitive.
The White Stripes sued Trump in a case that alleges he used their hit song “Seven Nation Army” without permission in a video posted to social media.
The White House dismissed a new House Republican investigative report castigating the Biden administration for the chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying that it offers “little or nothing new” and ignores critical facts.
Ten generals and admirals are mobilizing to defend Harris from Republican attempts to tie her to the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The former director of Project 2025 is sharply criticizing Trump’s campaign, accusing its two top advisers of a series of missteps, lack of preparation and overconfidence that he says have jeopardized Trump’s chances in November.
Trump’s social media company is in a deep slump that keeps getting worse, wiping out a huge chunk of his net worth.
Hollywood heavyweight Ron Howard says JD Vance seems to have changed since authoring a memoir that turned into an Oscar nominated film.
A draft of a report by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic outlines instances in which former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his top aides may have made false or misleading statements during the pandemic or before Congress.
The report zeros in on March 2020 guidance from the state Department of Health that directed nursing homes to readmit patients who had tested positive for Covid, and how Cuomo aides later sought to deflect blame for deaths in nursing homes.
A rising tide of crime in Rochester is now prompting Gov. Kathy Hochul to step in and announce a new crackdown, including 25 additional New York State troopers and funding for technology to help solve and prevent crime.
In public, Hochul has repeatedly said her order to pause congestion pricing was motivated by economics, not politics. But behind the scenes, her lawyers are claiming the debate over the controversial tolling program does in fact live in the “political realm.”
Questar III BOCES is holding three sessions to gather feedback on the proposed changes in high school graduation requirements.
New York’s climate is expected to radically change by the 2080s: New research finds it could resemble that of Arkansas.
The intensity and volume of the federal scrutiny on Mayor Eric Adams’s inner circle has raised questions about the scope of what agents are seeking and how much longer they intend to seek it, especially with the Democratic primary approaching next year.
NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban is expected to resign his post in the coming days, following news of a federal investigation involving possible corruption, four people familiar with the matter told POLITICO.
Adams told reporters the commissioner was continuing to do his job, and Caban has reportedly informed police officials he isn’t going anywhere.
Despite Adams’ public claims of support for Caban, City Hall insiders say the mayor’s administration is seeking the commissioner’s resignation.
The feds are reportedly eyeing a pair of Adams’ allies for potentially influencing city contracts and taking kickbacks — yet another damaging thread in their sweeping corruption and influence-peddling probe, according to law-enforcement sources.
Terence Banks, the younger brother of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks and Schools Chancellor David Banks who’s ensnared in a federal corruption probe, started his political consulting firm while still drawing a salary from the MTA.
Adams tested positive for COVID-19 and canceled most of his events yesterday – including a roundtable with members of the Jewish community and ethnic media and a town hall on the Underhill and Vanderbilt street redesign.
The mayor reportedly “wasn’t feeling great” during an event early in the day and decided to take a COVID test. This is not the first time Adams has tested positive. Back on his 100th day in office, he was quarantined at Gracie Mansion.
Given Adams’s illness, a spokesman said, the mayor is unlikely to attend ceremonies planned for tomorrow to commemorate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center towers and killed more than 2,700 people.
Eric Goldstein, who ran food services for the New York City Education Department, took bribes to put tainted chicken tenders back on the lunch menu, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to two years in prison.
A city pilot program doled out as much as $600,000 to move migrant families out of the Big Apple’s packed shelter system, officials confirmed.
The number of 9/11 FDNY first responders killed from exposure to toxins at Ground Zero has risen to 370 – surpassing the amount of department members who died on the day of the terror attacks, officials confirmed.
The Manhattan district attorney filed arson and criminal mischief charges against a Brooklyn lawyer who was arrested in a Columbia University administration building and ignited an Israeli flag with a lighter.
Disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein had emergency heart surgery after being rushed to the hospital over the weekend, officials said.
The disgraced Hollywood mogul, 72, who has been held on Rikers Island since April, is scheduled to return to court in New York later this month.
David Harris, 55, who became Union College’s 19th president in July 2018, said that he will step down at the end of the school year. He has no plans for his next venture, but won’t pursue another college presidency position after he leaves on June 30.
A fourth person has died in an outbreak of Legionella at Peregrine Senior Living at Shaker facility — making it likely one of the most deadly reported outbreaks of the pneumonia-like illness in the Capital Region in decades.
A $9 million tax incentive was approved by the Albany County Industrial Development Agency to contribute to the over $40 million expansion of Atlas Copco, the sole manufacturer for large-scale carbon dioxide compressors for green energy in the U.S.
Comedian John Mulaney will return to Broadway to star in a new play, “All In: Comedy About Love,” staged as vignettes about relationships, marriage and heartbreak and written by the humorist Simon Rich, Mulaney’s former “SNL” collaborator.
Catherine, the Princess of Wales, announced she had completed chemotherapy for her cancer, lifting a cloud from the British royal family after an anguished period in which she and her father-in-law, King Charles III, had both been stricken with serious illness.
Speaking in an emotional three-minute video, Catherine, 42, said, “As the summer comes to an end, I can’t tell you what a relief it is to have finally completed my chemotherapy treatment.”
“Doing what I can to stay cancer free is now my focus,” she continued. “Although I have finished chemotherapy, my path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes.”
Patti Scialfa, wife of Bruce Springsteen and a longtime member of his E Street Band, revealed in a new documentary that she was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer in 2018, which has led to her curtailing her public appearances and band performances.
James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen — eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, “The Lion King” and Darth Vader — has died at the age of 93.
The actor’s agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died yesterday morning at home in Dutchess County. The cause was not immediately clear.
Photo credit: George Fazio,
