Not a mod, but figured this would be better than clogging up the culture war thread?
Where to watch
6PM Pacific / 9PM Eastern (broadcast from Atlanta), so when this post is about on hour old. Any CNN platform, and no subscription needed. Also available on C-SPAN, PBS, (those three including CNN for sure free), NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, Fox, USA Today, Univision, basically everywhere.
Rules
It will be hosted by CNN, one of only two agreed at this time (the other September 10th). Debate rules mutually agreed include no audience, mic muted outside their turn, no opening statements, no prewritten notes, no props, 2 minute answers and 1 minute rebuttals with 1 minute by discretion, only two commercial breaks (no confirmation on how many/how long), 90 minute duration overall, and Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will be moderators. Coin flip for Biden led him to select the right podium, so Trump chose to give his closing remarks second. In case you were curious about the mics:
"Attached to the cameras in the studio and in the candidate's field of view are the timing lights. When the lights show yellow, there are 15 seconds left in a candidate's answer or response. When the lights flash red, there are 5 seconds left, and when the light displays solid red, time is up. At that point, the candidate's microphone will be turned off, and the other candidate will have their microphone turned on. On each candidates' podium are two green lights. When they're on, they signal to the candidate that his microphone is on, and when the green lights are off, the microphone is off."
Expected Viewership
This very recent poll (3 days ago) suggests that overall 37% of US adults are "extremely" or "very" likely to watch, up to 64% if you include the "somewhat" likely group; 57% overall plan on (extreme/very likely) tuning in to some form of coverage, including clips or analysis after, though the share of independents is lower at 41%. Over 50% of adults from each party feel the debate will be extremely/very important to their own campaigns respectively. So viewership should be fairly high, certainly in the tens of millions.
So: Thoughts? Reactions? Expectations? I'll post my own in the thread below.
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Notes -
HOLY SHIT BIDEN MIST HAVE LOST THE ELECTION RIGHT THERE, Biden lost his train of thought entirely and said "we beat Medicare"... Trump didn't even need to say anything about his mental because that said everything.
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