With opinion polls showing a very tight race for the November 5 US elections, the first presidential debate here between President Joe Biden from the Democratic Party and his Republican challenger Donald Trump could turn the tide for any one of them. While Biden would try to convince voters that he at 81 is capable of becoming the president of the United States again and steer the nation through the challenges it faces, Trump, 78, could use the opportunity to persuade the people to look past his conviction in a criminal case and see his plans for the country, including its economy. Both the leaders arrived here in the afternoon on Thursday.
This debate is going to be "extraordinary" and different as the whole attention will be on the "character of the two presidents", Nadia Bilbassy-Charters Bureau Chief at the Al Arabiya News Channel, who has covered presidential debates since the George Bush era, told PTI. This is "completely different (from the previous ones). It is happening the first time and before the conventions of both the DNC (Democratic National Convention in August) and the RNC (Republican National Convention in July).
It is happening without an audience, and there is a microphone that will cut them off when they try to interrupt," she said. "This is extraordinary by every means. We have two candidates that 70 per cent of the American people don't want.
There are two candidates who repeat in a scenario of 2020, so this is an extraordinary time for America as well,.
