>> here's what's ahead on today's editi of washington journal. we will talk with mitchell mckiey from the university of akron in ohio. after th we look at the battleground states of pennsylvania. a preview of tonigh's debate between donald trump and kamala harris. "washington journal" starts now. ♪ host: good morning, it is tuesday, september 10. presidential candidates face off tonight for a 90 minute debate. it will be moderated by abc and the simulcast on c-span. do debates matter? do you plan to watch tonight? what would you want to ask the candidate?

if you say yes, debates do matter, it is (202) 748-8000. if you say no, they do not, it is (202) 748-8001. if you are unsure, (202) 748-8002. we have a line for texting, that is (202) 748-8003. we are on social media. you could reach us on facebook.com/c-span and x at cspanwj. we are glad you are with us. we will start with the rules of tonight's debate. it is 90 minutes. there is no audnce. the microphone will be muted except for the cdidate whose turn it is to speak. no props or pre-written notes allowed on the stage. there will not be opening statements but there will be

closing statements. trump won the coin toss so he chose to deliveris closing statement last. harris has selected the right podium position on screen according to abc news. this is from the usa today. the stakes are sky high. it says with the history of the presidential election is written the one and only debate between joe biden and donald trump will be remembered as the event that changed the course of the race. a few weeks after his disastrous performance he stepped out. this week the second debate will take place. this time between harris and trump. polls show a close race with

just two months left until election day. we have comments from facebook. scott ss it used to be they would actually debate situations and issues, nowadays they only tell you what the person has done wrong. in other words, they are a joke. lawrence says this. if you were given more ngof candidates, it would. we are sllp against the same old same, r right trump against far left harris. most people's minds are made up because of the choices. let's go to the calls now, david in jersey city, new jersey. you are first. caller: good morning. i have freehe ate you taking your call.

tonight's debate with donald trump and kamala harris is going to be really central. this is a very decisive 90 minutes. i'm a democrat, i'm hoping for kamala harris to do her best. host: give me a question you would want the moderators to ask former president trump. caller: i made up this term called lying hypnosis because he is lying all the time. host: let's talk to nicole in

michigan. caller: i'm in favor of debates being consequential, just so far is the fact that it seems they are a good number that have helped decide the outcomes of election, this one in particular seems to be one of the biggest ones. host: have you decided who you are supporting? will you decide as a result of the debate. caller: i have decided. i would like to see my decision the upheld by what i'm already thinking by the performance today.

host: here is ben. caller: i am definitely for debates. trump will not get my vote if he doesn't debate. this will come down to two things. he has to address ukraine and gaza. he knows trump's bad news for russia. he has to settle the and we cannot afford to have genocide in gaza. so, he's got to adjust the israel issue. why is he so pro israeli and totally -- he thinks he's the messiah of the jews. where does he get that from?

host: so you would like to ask both candidates how they would handle the war in gaza? caller: absolutely. it's not acceptable. host: here is laura in florida. caller: i would like to ask harris about what has happened during this situation in afghanistan. i would like to have information and explanation about that. yes, good morning. yes, yes. host: we got to mute your. but we did hear you. you're listening to a delay. we are talking about a debate that is happening tonight. the debate itself starts at 9:00 p.m. eastern time but our coverage here on the c-span network will start at 8:00 p.m.

eastern time and following the debate, we'll be taking your calls to get your reactions. so you can start watching here on c-span2. we're also going to be on the app, c-span now and online at c-span.org. and we also have a poll going on. we'd love to get your opinion, which is we're asking the same question -- do debates matter? you can go to c-span.org/poll. you can also, there's a q.r. code there on your screen. you can point your phone's kamala at that and there's -- camera at that. there's still time to vote. it's c-span.org/poll and the q.r. code. we're going to be showing the results. so far it's 80% yes and 20% no on do debates matter.

let's talk to rose next in new york. good morning. caller: yes. good morning. i don't think that it works but i have a question that i would like to ask tonight and that is concerning the border war that president trump said that he was going to build. i was wondering why didn't he build that wall? what about the money that he was to get from mexico? did he get that money?

and did he use it for his legal -- because i've never heard anything about that and that is what i'm curious about. because to me, if he built that wall, we would not have a problem with immigration. what happened with that? that only started that campaign when he came down those stairs and no one's talking about that. and i hope they bring that up tonight because i am very curious where did that money two? he would say who would pay for that wall? everybody said mexico, mexico. and that is what i have. host: all right, rose. and we got this from laurie on facebook. i think this debate for sure matters. go, kamala. and karen says that the debat

does not matter to her. she said i'm voting trump. i lived in trump's economy and i lived throu kala's economy and i have struggled the three and a half yrs that is all ieeto know. i did better a my family did better when trump was in the white house. so time voting for trump. trump is better to save our country. and let's go to alexandria from virginia. caller: good morning. i think the debates matter. and tonight, i don't want to hear about people's history of what they said they did or didn't do or whatever. i want to hear what people are doing now and are going to do now about this economy. host: ok. so what's the question you would like to ask the candidates? caller: yes, i'd like to ask the candidates what are you going to do to fix grocery prices, gas prices and housing prices?

because that's what me as an american is concerned about. host: and do you feel you have not heard that from the candidates from the campaign trail? caller: no, i feel people are throwing out -- you know, i'm going to give $5,000, $25,000 to first-time buyers. some are in their homes and apartments already. and we need to figure out what you're going to do to bring down the costs of where we are now. meet us where we are now not about the newcomers, people to buy or whatever. host: all right. let's talk to tony in kansas city, missouri. hi, tony. caller: yeah, how are you? thanks for taking my call. this candidates now is making a

big mistakes and what trump stands for. everybody knows where kamala harris stands. everybody knows that. united states -- that survive e. [indiscernible] so any person who is rooting for trump is wasting their time. we have to go with kamala. that's it for me. thank you. host: all right, tony. and this is an op-ed in "the hill" from steve israel. saying will the debate matter? probably not. to each campaign's efforts to set -- we're hurling towards a

nationally televised showdown between former president trump and vice president harris and a predictable media frenzy over any possible result. he says that in the aftermath of the first debate turned out the entire -- turned the entire election upside down with there's understandable hype for the sequel. the problem is sequels rarely live up to the original. and presidential debates don't decide elections. wonder if you agree with that. here is tina in new jersey. caller: i'm not sure but i think kamala was stuff down our threat toes and i'm going to vote uncommitted if it's possible. if they don't have a choice, i'm not going to vote for either trump nor kamala and that's basically because of the george

floyd bill that were against what's going on with african american men being shot at will by police and nobody doing anything and this is what we voted for. we voted so that biden could help us with this and he didn't nor did kamala. so i don't understand the attraction to kamala and i don't understand the attraction to trump as far as african americans are concerned. i hope we can vote down ballot but i don't think we somehow vote for her nor trump. so i don't think this debate helps us at all. host: and so you would want to ask kamala harris about that george floyd policing bill? caller: yes, ma'am, that's what i would ask. host: all right. let's talk to sharon in new york city. hi, sharon.

caller: hi, how are you guys doing? host: we're great. caller: yes. i like the debate because this will tell us a perspective on where donald trump is now, not back then. we already knew a little about kamala. and i know so far [indiscernible] i know joe biden and kamala has done a lot for her because remember like when he just got there, he used to get $250 for -- credit. and i have two children. so that make a great impact for me. and when the republicans took over congress, everything went away. so i want to know tonight what donald trump's going to do. is he going to extrapolate what

kamala is doing and why lose -- number one, he never conceded and said joe biden is the president and we see the chaos that started on january 6. so i'm going to say -- you tell me what you are going to do. so that's what i say. it's going to be massive and i rooted for kamala all the way. thank you very much. host: let's take a look at a portion of a town hall with fox news last week. president trump cast down on the fairness of the abc debate. >> abc is the worst network in terms of fairness. they had a poll where will i was 17 points down a couple of days prior to the election. i was 17 points down in wisconsin. and they do that because people

don't vote. i was 17 points down and i won. and i called and said why would they say five or four or three? because at three, you go and vote. at 17, your people say i want to vote but i'm busy. i have other things to do. let's go see a movie and we'll watch the results later. they are the most dishonest network, the meanest, the nastiest but that was what i was presented with. i was presented with abc, george slop-dop-lus. and he's a nasty guy. i've had him up to here. but let me tell you. he's a very bad kind of guy but i watched his interview of joe biden. it was like the softest interview i've ever seen. it was softer than the cnn

cnninterview of kamala. they already have the questions in answer. they even have donna brazile. remember her? she's a real beauty. donna brazile, she gave hillary clinton the questions. do you remember that? and she works for abc and she's at the roundtable talking about the debate. so, we're going to watch very closely but you're not allowed to do. we even have a clause in the contract. you can't give them the questions but i probably -- i'm not sure if she's going to help

her that much though. you might give her the questions and give her the answers with the questions. i'm not sure it's going to help her. i don't know. [laughter] host: back to the calls now to jim in winter park, florida. do you think the debates matter? caller: i think they would matter if they were fair. in all honesty, if the debates were handled by let's say moderators from both sides, you would have a much fairer debate. but what's going to happen tonight is they're going to attack trump just like the democrats affect trump for his january 6 for things that he has said because he does say stupid things. he talks about things that he can affect. so far i have watched kamala

harris and other than telling people that they will give them $25,000 for their first home buy or child tax credit, where's that money going to come from? that's going to come from taxpayers that are still working. host: dothan the moderators were fair on the cnn debate? caller: the moderators couldn't help biden that night. they throw softball questions. and they're again to throw softball questions to kamala tonight. they're not going to throw the

hardball questions about her record or what she did about the border. they're not going to throw those questions at her. they're gong let her spay what she wants to say about what she thinks people want to hear and she's going to play the card that trump keeps trying to overtalk. i remember some of the conversations with jimmy carter and ronald reagan and when they ask the question from one guy from the republican's side, that same question was asked to the democrat's side so you could literally see the difference in their policies. you don't get that anymore. you don't get that same questioning. you know, they offer an easy question to a democrat and then they turn around and they go after something that trump has said in the past about bad

topic. host: all right. we'll see that for tonight when we're watching the debate. and by the way, jim, we do have on our website, c-span.org, an entire page for presidential debates and vice presidential debates. here's charlene in oakdale, california. good morning. caller: good morning. i think they do matter but kamala harris should be asked about afghanistan.

and i just wanted to say god have mercy on anyone that would back harris or biden. that's all i've got to say. but i do hope they ask -- i hope she's held accountable with what happened to get the withdraw. but thank you very much and have a nice day. host: here's kerry in milwaukee. hi, kerry. you don't think they matter? caller: no. certainly on one hand. and that is for people who are fully convinced in their hearts, in their minds that trump is a threat to democracy. they're not going to be convinced to change. and for folks who believe that kamala is -- both sides from

saying that about each other and a lot of people believe that. what i believe is kamala is used by in conservatives as a threat to our future standard of living. because what it really comes down to is socialism and capitalism. it has nothing to do with democracy. we will always be able to freely voted i but half the country went to first socialism. on the other hand, i think tonight's debate unlike a lot of them in the past could very well change, you know, incredibly change it. in trump should throw into, you know, i can't stand his personality, but if trump should launch into one of his bully type of rant or raves or get off

tomic, whatever, and look totally unpresidential, i think he will put the final coffin in his grave. but on the other hand, kamala, i think she will do well. she will continue to pander other people. absolutely promising the world, so she sounds like the best thing since sliced bread. but she's unproven, certainly, in her federal government options. maybe she's a good attorney general in california. but vice president doesn't have been much to go on or whatever in my opinion. that is my opinion. host: so kerry, do you have a question like what do you think you would want to ask if you had the chance to be the moderator tonight? what would you ask and to which candidate? caller: i would like to ask both candidates because what i see is

both candidates have different freedoms that they want to protect and they stress to protect them. sol i would ask them which freedoms do you support that you believe your opponents doesn't? and i would like both of them to answer that. host: all right. and here is mark, in tulsa. hi, mark. caller: hey, mimi. how are you doing today? we've spoken together like maybe a handful of times in the past. good to speak with the american people. this is beautiful. the reason i'm on the not sure line, folks, and the reason why is because based on who's going to win this election, it really doesn't matter in my mind. i think the american people are starting to understand our temporary kingdom. we elected the president for four years. while the power in the first run everything.

so, as far yet. probably 80% that are even going to vote, i think we had 158 million people voting in the previous election. and yeah, it's like this year, i doubt that 110 million people vote. people are checked out. you're going to see a lot of third party. this is theatrics people see it. host: so mark, have you decided what you're going to do in november? caller: yes. i've decided. yes. and you're asking me what i'm going to do. i don't believe in the temporary king. that's why the british left england. let's get rid of that one power that -- it's like king charles of england. host: so what are you going to do? caller: just like our president is a fraud, mimi.

it's fake. and people are realizing it. host: do you not want to share with us what you want to do for the campaign or to the election? caller: yeah, i'll share with you. absolutely. i'm not voting for either of these two. i mean, we had like eight people run against trump. he's afraid to debate him in a forum. why is he afraid? and then we only have eight people? i mean, i only have 10,000 contests but for the presidency of the united states, we're going to have two that are pulling for us? and jojo's talking about democracy? that one wisdom carrying the day, mimi, is not democracy. democracy means rule of the people, ruled by the people. not ruled one. so, you have 46% of the population that vote, and they pull a.1. now this person has a mandate? and what they mandate is --

because for the purse controls everything. the military controls everything. host: all right, mark. nice to chat with you. let's take a look at a new harris rule that is going to be shown on fox news channel today. this features in former trump administration officials. take a look. >> in 2015, donald trump said he would choose only the best people to work in his white house. now those people have a warning for america. trump is not fit to be president again. here is his vice president. >> anyone who puts himself over the constitution should not be president of the united states. i will not be endorsing donald trump this year. >> his defense secretary. >> do you think trump could be trusted? >> no. it's irresponsible action that places our service members at risk. >> his national security advisor. host: donald trump will cause a lot of damage. the only thing he cares about is

donald trump. >> and the nation's highest ranking officer. >> we don't take it on to a >> donald trump is a danger to our troops and to our democracy. we can't let him lead our country again. >> i'm kamala harris and i approve this message. host: back to the phone lines to theodore in california. caller: hello. growing up my mom was a supermom of six, seven children. and my dad was in prison. she said charity starts at the moment. and that's what we will look at this nation, what's going on now. the most important thing it should be our nation.

unfortunately, she passed of parkinson's but she was such a loving american. i'm the second generation. the bottom line is charity starts at home. host: are you watching with -- caller: let me finish. host: ok. we're talking about the debate. so let's get back to the debate. caller: ok. i'm so sorry. but you know what? you're such a noble patriotic person and you carry heavy things that's best for our nation. and i just hope god's best for you and your country. and thank you for your grace.

host: and wliam in jackson, mississippi. you're next. caller: thk you for your call. let me get straight to what i want to say. for me, yes, the debates matter. back when you have media perpetrating the bs, that's when it becomes uninform tiff. none of the debates that donald trumpebates that donald trump has, i don't think he wants. the gentleman a couple of hours ago was talking about a debate

he had with biden. i say this before on c-span. i don't believe he won that debate. when you ask when they were both asked the same question, he did not answer not one question. he didn't do nothing but attacks. what you do, that's not getting. -- debating. but they want to go for trump, they are the people that dropped out of school. and they are trying to cast doubt to the people that are voters. but folks, we are informative. yes, debates work. and people are listening. and they know and they're waking up. that's why you have a lot of people from the republican party that's going to start to endorse

kamala harris. it's going to be a political beatdown. and if you are a maga, i don't believe you have a chance. i really don't believe trump going to win a state. thank you for taking my call. host: all right, william. and here's the "new york times" that says harris's debate challenge. pushing ahead without leaving biden behind at tuesday's debate, kamala harris, the vice president will try to promote herself as a change candidate without criticizing president biden whom she has served four years. and this is dennis. conway, south carolina. good morning. caller: good morning, ma'am. i'm turning down my tv. tomorrow morning. host: yes, good morning. go right ahead.

caller: the man is a criminal. he's a liar. he's a very dangerous man to this country. and in other countries. and on behalf of the afghanistan 13, it's the same, but you cannot -- because a man blew up everybody. that's just like the schools. shooting up everybody. nobody act like that matters. and donald trump -- is at the real leader. and i just -- i've had it for presidents. thank you. host: all right. dennis mentioned the afghanistan report here. house foreign affairs committee chair with reporters outside the

capitol talking about that report. >> when you don't have a plan, you plan to fail. this was a failure for everyone, but especially these families standing behind me. we knew the day, the time. we knew the gates. yet, these marines were sent in, unprotected their government. asked to stand by their won't enemy to tell them to defend this airport. and what happens? suicide bomber. guess where he comes from? prison. thousands of isis k released.

bomb goes off. 13 servicemen and women killed. 170 afghans killed. 45 americans and afghan civilians wounded. the sad thing is, it could have been prevented. if we just had a plan. it could have been stopped. nothing will take back their children's lives. yes, they will be receiving a gold medal. congressional gold medal. well deserved on behalf of their children and loved one posthumously. but nothing can bring them back. it was one of the deadliest attack in 20 years because there juan plan. host: talking about the

presidential debate that's happening tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern. our coverage here on the c-span network starts at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. and after the debate, we'll be getting your reaction on that. we also have a poll going on the question is do debates matter? we want to get you do weigh in on that. you can go to c-span.org/poll. there's also a q.r. code on your screen that you can point your phone's camera at that and you can vote that way. the results so far are yes, debates matter at 79% and no, they do not at 21%. maria in georgia. hello. caller: hi. yes, i think that the debates does matter. and they matter, i don't know with donald trump. because we already know who

donald trump is. he's going to lie. he's going to not talk about policies. he's going to talk about himself. that's what he always does in his rally and in any news conference that he does. he always talk about himself. and american people, listen, you talk about kamala harris and you don't know her policy? well, what do you know about donald trump's policy? he himself doesn't know about policy. even the child care policy that he rambled on with. and i just want to say this about the lady that called earlier and talked about the george floyd bill. it just hurts my heart that the american people do not know how the government works. we learned this early in elementary school, in middle school, in high school.

the three parts of the government, the congress, executive branch, judicial branch. each three parts of the government has its own function. there are bills the george floyd bill that were proposed by joe biden that did not get passed in congress. there are other bills, the john lewis voting right bill. the border control bill that donald trump told the republican congress to not pass because it will make him look bad in the election. there are other bills, student loan, gun control bills. these are republicans that are sitting on these bills and will not pass them.

the president has the power to propose the bill. but it's up to the congress, the house to pass the bills. and we have to understand the function of the government. it all comes together if every function of government participate. and the border control bill. all you see from fox news to on tv about kamala harris, the border star and all of this kind of stuff. kamala harris cannot pass. congress are the ones that pass the bill it's sitting there right now. if donald trump is concerned about illegal immigrants coming into the borders, tell his republicans to pass the bill. host: got it, maria.

and here is donald on facebook who says about theuestion do debates matter? he said 100%. they are hiding biden from us. until they op him up for the world to see, hence, we are why we are today. shou b a goodepeat tonight. and chl in floridaays yes, debates tt, however, the democrats won't have covid to de behind. vice president harris will be exposeju like president biden was in his debate. she can't fake her way through a debate. and beverly, casper, wyoming. good morning. caller: good morning. and to the last caller, it is true. nobody knows kamala harris and i think she's a new bright face. and if it was a debate, this is what i don't get. the people fired trump four years ago and they're still

calling him president trump. and i just hope it sinks in to him that the people voted him out. you know, he might have this big old crowd that boosted his ego, but the people voted him out. they him. host: and this is mike from marysville, california, who nds us a text. good morning, mimi. i'd rather choose tinfoil than watc those two. stl can't believe that's the best our country has to offer. john in houston, you're next. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks very much for taking my call. nine correct. and he wasn't a single interview

with -- [indiscernible] host: i did see that, john. what did want to say about that? caller: well, he said on the -- doesn't matter. debate doesn't matter. and he has a [indiscernible] they're going to lose the white house party. host: so john, you believe that debates do not matter. will you be watching anyway tonight? caller: yeah, i'm going to watch it. host: what are you going to be watching for? caller: well, i am watching trump. he was on four years experience in the white house presidency. and i also kamala was a vice

president. anything that goes good or bad, she was involved. i want to say what she is going to say the nation. i'm going to go back to allan rickman, which doesn't matter. he said they call me to come because ronald reagan to his white house and he was -- what am i doing at the white house? so i go over there and i saw george bush, 1984. they said do you think reagan should run or not run because he is old? and he said no. reagan has a cosmetic debate good and let him to run. some of them, they said this agree with me. but anyway, they're wrong. and he won landslide against

mondale. host: and i was just going to say we do have all those debates if you'd like to go back and watch them. they're at c-span.org. we have a whole page dedicated to that presidential debates and vice presidential debates. we've got everything going back to 1976. we also have the 1960 debate between mr. nixon and mr. kennedy. nathaniel in mississippi, good morning. caller: good morning, mimi. host: how are you doing, nathaniel? caller: i'm all right. yes, look, i've been listening to some of your callers like from virginia, south carolina, and what i can't understand is why you people can't pronounce her name right? it's not kamala. it's kamala. and that's just make me so bad, irritated to hear them calling her name. but i watch debate with trump and biden. i watched the whole debate.

and i think that man lost his ways. he didn't do nothing about the debate. i think he won the debate. trump couldn't answer none of the questions about child care and january 6 people. he never want to answer them questions. and how do you know what he going to do? and when we say he's going to do this and do that, dictate on day one and these people still want to elect this man what happened to january 6? i don't know what's wrong with them. i'm a black 69-year-old man, and i've never heard black people criticize another black people so bad because this lady running for president. yes, i like tock see a lady president. and i think she will make a good president. this man ain't care about this country and i really, really don't believe donald trump was born in the united states. every time you call him, they say you were born in queen, new

york. host: there's no evidence that donald trump was not born in the united states but i get your point. and here is some other news. this is from the new jersey globe. george henry sworn in as new jersey's junior senator. he's the succeeding the disgraced senator following his conviction on corruption charges. the senate will be fleeting. he is set to serve until the november election between andy kim and after which he will step down and governor phil murphy will appoint the winners to his seat. henry is 44 years old and he is the first member of the church to serve in the senate.

he was served in a orthodox bible. and jean is in illinois. good morning, jean. caller: hello. i don't think the debates are really that important because the republicans always have the gotcha question. and i agree with trump. the last caller saying the democrats always put their -- they've been putting out the whole time but harris has been ahead in the polls. i watched polling every day of every 50 states. they also take the polls from -- or they take the results from the last two elections and it's only fair to do it that way. and they're just all telling and they're thinking well, they won't go vote for trump if harris is already ahead in all the polls. and the polling i just saw

yesterday is that trump is ahead in every swing state. and another thing. that 2020 election was the american people around here all believe ordinary people believe it was stolen. our eyes watch and come in the ballots in the middle of the night and stuffed those ballot boxes and they had -- the democrats had 600 lawyers going in and changing all the election laws and that is not constitutional because the legislature of the states are supposed to do that. is that fair? and the go app question with biden that biden said about trump was the 51 intelligence officers that said that the biden laptop was russian -- how many people would vote for trump because they thought that was true. it's all over the media. host: so you just mentioned polls and i wanted to make sure

that you saw this. this is from 538 polls and this is very useful website here. this is the national poll. caller: there's more than one national poll. i watch more than one. host: yes. and you can see -- caller: and they're all reputable. host: a composite poll as well that takes the average of all the polls. you can see that at real clear politics. and you can also go down and take a look at which -- this is by state. so, for example, this is arizona. this will show you arizona here. trump is ahead by .6. you can select whatever states. here's michigan with harris up two points. so that's useful as well. and let's go next to john in

yucca valley, california. good morning. caller: hi, good morning, mimi, and america. you know, i've had the hardest time. i've move freedom the east coast and the west coast and i saw kamala debate for her senate seat with the women that was just about a train wreck as donald trump. but i haven't been able to find that. she almost had to -- you know, she just -- it really would illustrate, you know, what about kamala harris's style is and all of that sort of thing. i don't think -- i'm not sure if it's even considered a debate anymore. there are universities with debateling societies, debating teams, they feature that, they give a score. a lively debate is a great thing to watch and it really does make the issues more clear.

this is more bordering on a game show. i'm very upset. i'm a democrat. i voted for kamala. for joe biden to show up in that condition and saying he was sick and he was in five different time zones. i was very angry about that. that wasn't even a contest, really. and i understand that they talked about the issues and that sort of thing, but, you know, i think the -- and there's been a lot of shows where i see what would you ask, you know, the presidential the presidential candidates and i would ask donald trump why he thinks a great leader, namely the leader of china, rules with an iron fist? and how is that good? i am going to be watching tonight and i think kamala harris has the upperhand because she does drill down to the issues and i think donald trump is just -- he throws bombs. thank you.

host: all right, john. let's talk to harold next in tennessee. good morning. caller: yes, ma'am, thank you for taking my call. i believe that it matters. kamala harris needs to tell more about what she's going to do. we all know what donald trump's going to do. it's probably 2025. his legislation is laid out, do away with any role in health care, do away with obamacare. she's going to help the young people get a home. first-time home buyers. i like the part where she's wanting to extend childhood tax credits. donald trump, you know, how is he going to pay for his big tax cuts for the wealthy? it's simple. he's going to cut social security out. he's going to do away with anything that help support poor person. he's going to do away with obamacare. but he needs to tell more about project 2025. you hear what he said about

childhood support he said -- make him answer the questions. don't give him no run-around all that about what this, that or whatever. but she need to tell more about what her plan is. and when it comes to four years, what if you people died four years ago from covid? you remember what joe biden and kamala harris took over. we took over a country that had 15% unemployment when they took over. and we need to look at that. we need to look at what -- health care. every time they lost some of these qanon people. these people want to do this stuff to colored people. they want to do it to jews. host: all right. so, harold, ok. this is a single debate makes ao

evaluate that candidate, the debate matters because it demonstrates that the candidate is not ready for primetime, neve mind a job as importa as the u.s. presidency. rudy in georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. the debate matter because policies matter and -- counts. and it gives the voters an opportunity to take look at two candidates in real time and evaluates not only their specific answers, but the nuances. i'm a pastor and every sunday morning, people vote with their feet. the sunday i go to my church and nobody is in the audience that tells me everything i need to know. the entire country will be listening tonight to find out where both candidates stands on

policy and they get a chance to accept character based on what they know but also the nuances of what they see. and objective people should be able to make their objective assessment of what they see during the debate and if you're locked in to voted for former president trump or vice president harris, if you already locked in, and you're not open-minded, it's almost disingenuous to the process. host: and joni in southport, connecticut. good morning. caller: hi. i've been watching since you had the parents of the gold star soldiers, families on earlier today. i watched that entire thing yesterday on one american news. yes, i'm going to watch the debate, but what i'd like to say is we have an information crisis in this country. and by listening to the people

that have gone before me, it's a serious information crisis. we don't have journalism anymore in this country. what we have are opinion people who are putting out their opinions in the american people accepting this as fact. i don't watch mainstream media anymore. i listen to independent researchers and journalists who are putting their lives and their careers on the line to get the truth out. and i have to say i was really disappointed in c-span that they put that advertisement for harris on with all of these people that we know dislike matters is the truth gets out and we've had a problem with that in this country and it's

starting with mainstream legacy media and that need to be changed because until that's changed, people really are will not going to know the truth. nobody reported on this yesterday except for c-span and one news, those were the only people who had this very important press conference set up. it looked like there was a handful of reporters there to report on this. this is a crisis in our country. this is what the problem is and why people are calling up talking gibberish to you. because they do not know what's going on and it scares me. host: joni, that is it for this segment but there's a lot more to come because up next we will have a discussion about past, present and future presidential debates with political munication scholar mitchell mckinney from the university of akron. we will be right back. >> watch the abc news

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primary source for capitol hill. provide imbalanced unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to where the policy is debated and decided all with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: we are joined by mitchell mckinney, dean of the college of arts and sciences at the university of akron paid welcome to the program. we were just talking in the last segment do debates matter. what do you think of that? guest: certainly we can analyze a couple of ways going back to late june one's performance on the debate stage can be very consequential in terms of their candidacy and of course with joe biden and his debate with donald

trump. but also we ask that question quite often i think were wondering do they change minds or affect the outcomes of elections and typically what we have found certainly in close races, we have seen where debates and candidates performance in debates can sway i would say voters. it's usually the case anywhere from 90 to 95% of those debate viewers coming into the debates have made up their mind they are using the debate to reinforce their decision, yet debates have the reach we will likely have 50 or 60 million viewers tonight. we've had debates of 70 to 80 million viewers. debates reach those voters that haven't been following as closely, they are still leaning undecided and even if that affects when you're looking it's likely to be decided in the

margins and we know the polls have been shown consistently now one or two points either way. that certainly the potential is there for this to be quite a consequential debate. >> let's go back to that june debate between president biden and former president trump we will play a portion of it and i will have you comment on it. >> after a jury convicted you of 34 felonies last month you said if reelected you would have every right to go after your political opponents. you just talked about members of the select committee on january 6 going to jail. her main political opponent is standing on stage with you tonight. can you clarify what it means about feeling you have every right to go after your political opponents? >> i said my retribution will be success. we will make this country successful because right now it's a failing nation. my retribution will be a success but when he talks about a convicted felon, his son is a convicted felon at a high level.

he will be convicted numerous other times. should have been convicted before but his justice department that the statute of limitations laps on the most important things but he could be a convicted felon as soon as he gets out of office. joe could be a convicted felon with all the things he's done. all the death caused the border, telling the ukrainian people that we will want $1 billion to change the prosecutor otherwise you're not getting on billion dollars paid if i ever said that that's quid pro quo. were knocking to do anything, were not to give you a billion dollars must you change the prosecutor. this man is a criminal. this man, you are lucky. i did nothing wrong. we have a system that was rigged and disgusting, i did nothing wrong. host: what do you make of that exchange? guest: i think that's a very good example of the benefit of the debate where it is the only

moment in a campaign where the two candidates meet face-to-face. we heard tonight this will be the first meeting ever between kamala harris and donald trump. and it's in that moment that we learn a great deal in terms of how candidates respond to their opponent, interact with their opponent, certainly we know from debates there is a great deal of issue discussion. and i've often pointed out there's really two levels of what i would call learning that's happening. issue learning. debate on the candidates issue position but there's also a great deal of image or character learning, of understanding how the candidates again the temperament, their demeanor and we see that through quite often how they interact with each other, how they respond to each other.

how they address one another. and again that only happens on the debate stage because it is the only time in campaign with the two candidates are together. >> with the muted microphones they will not able to >> talk with each other. they will not be able to interject and talk over, to interrupt, now again in the clip we just saw donald trump was a direct -- directly addressing joe biden. and we had, this is another i think feature of debate dialogue that is unique against the debate stage. as i analyze and say this. as soon you make your point, make your attack, it is your opponent's turn. how will they respond and therefore that's much like what

we heard from kamala harris in her stump speeches. what she said when she was eager to join, too beyond the debate stage that her opponent had been calling names, taunting and she said say it to my face. that is what the debate will afford. certainly with the muted microphones. we've only had two presidential debates in the history of presidential debates with muted microphones. the second debate in 2020 and then the debate between donald trump and joe biden at the end of june. that feature does control the candidates ability to have a more freewheeling uninterrupted exchange. but of course the muted mics were brought about because of what happened in that first debate in 2020 where it simply was so chaotic particularly donald trump strategy to try and befuddle joe biden every time

joe biden had his turn speaking we had a great deal of talking over and attempting to control dialogue. so they went with the muted microphones. in the habit again tonight. and so therefore it does bring some semblance of control to the debate. host: at that last debate president biden's age, his shaky performance was a major factor in that debate. do you think that there will be renewed scrutiny now on mr. trump's age and mental acuity. guest: certainly i think it could be a line of questioning, perhaps even a line of attack that he would be the oldest president to assume the presidency should he be elected. it's interesting on that age question, it certainly was a

feature in the late june debate and actually the age question was less explicit and more implicit in terms of how would joe biden perform because the expectation been set up by donald trump that joe biden would simply not be able to and in many ways joe biden his performance enacted, verified that question that some voters had. we had the age question in the 1960's when we started televised presidential debates, the age question was put to john kennedy as an he looked to be too young and inexperienced. we sought again with ronald reagan's election, would he be too old to continue serving as president. so that question and really i

would interpret it or frame it as fitness of the candidate. whether it's their level of fitness to perform their duties and again, we see that address and enact that on the debate stage. >> if you would like to join our conversation with mitchell mckinney he is a national scholar on presidential debates. you can do that on our line for democrats. 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents 202-748-8002. we will get to your phone call shortly. mitchell mckinney there's also knocking to be any audience in the studio, what impact do you think that has on the debate? certainly i think again that is another feature or element of structuring this debate that is

intended to bring a more focused discussion of the issue. a crater if you will decorum, what we've seen taken place over the years now in some ways this is a back to the future presidential debates because the original presidential debates in 1960 there were four of them all took place in tv studios with just candidates in the journalists. we moved away from that when debates resumed. over the. of several decades, more so in primary debates than it started to drift into our general election debates and particularly in 2016 continuing in 2020, where the audience became a participant in the debate dialogue. and much more so when candidates

were playing to the audience for their approval, their jeering. much like attempts to turn the debate stage into a rally. now again in 2016, we saw moments of where particularly donald trump was referencing the audience getting applause and adulation from the audience again that sort of creating that rally atmosphere that detracted from a more sober focused discussion of the issues. so that we see with removing the audience from the debate moment and then focusing with the two candidates, their interaction with each other, their discussion of the issues without the live audience. >> in your opinion do you think the addition of the audience has been a good thing or a bad

thing? >> i sometimes will reference the primary audience. that primary audience is the 50, 60, 70 million viewers who are tuned in to focus and learn from these candidates. rather than in the whole audience that again as i said quite often are there, we know this as supporters of one of the other candidates and that becomes a distraction to the primary audience. i think in many ways it is certainly beneficial feature now. for those candidates who look to use the debate stage something like a rally it might work to their disadvantage just as we've talked about the meeting -- the muting of the microphones. if someone wishes to use that

strategy to interrupt interject, to control, the muting of the microphones eliminates that. host: we have some callers who to talk to you. in virginia, a line for democrats good morning. caller: good morning. i have a friend that's in secret service. if trump, with his background could he apply for secret service job? host: do you have something specific about the debates grover? caller: yes, they have seen this man does 2016 and from 2016 if they don't know what he's saying -- they had people break into the capital and the american people

didn't believe that he had that done so the debates, the american people need to check themselves back. >> we will hear from roger in north carolina, republican. good morning. >> how his trunk be able to address the line the democrats do. how does he get that out in the debate. get somebody to change their mind. thank you. guest: certainly as we noted, it is the debate form is likely not the form that one is appealing to their party faithful to try and change minds. it is again that small slice that comes to this moment really

unsure undecided wanting to learn and in that regard i would say in tonight's debate, kamala harris has work to do in terms of introducing herself and ideas and i say that certainly she has served as vice president in terms of voters looking at her as potential president the ones coming out of the democrat national convention, that audience again was very much the party faithful to mobilize and energize. now it's a much larger audience. where there will be many members uncertain and unsure, this is the moment to demonstrate one's fitness, to discuss the issues. to the callers point of donald trump changing minds.

i think less so on his side again those who support him are with him and will not change their minds, of those who don't support him are not with him and will not change their minds based on what happened in this debate. yet does one man use this opportunity to try and appeal to those again small slice of undecideds, in that regard i think kamala harris has more opportunity simply because she is less known in terms of her presidential bid. >> we have a question on te from dell in florida about the ro othe moderators. saying professor mckinney is it fair to have only well-known ft-leaning moderators tonight. there should be one from fox and one from abc to make it fair. lack of hard follow-up questions to kamala harris are likely as

in dana bash's interview last week. guest: the role of the journalists, the moderator in setting the agenda and asking the questions is very significant in terms of influencing the debate, the discussion in the debate and i would also say the ability to follow up, to press the candidates on their responses, those elements are very significant. now in terms of left-leaning, right-leaning, where you select the journalists. this is one of the most contentious issues in the history of presidential debate. leaving candidates to bulk and not participate, leading them to when we had independent debate voters it is always the case that in the negotiations the candidates will agree to participate, they are not required.

it's only by their willingness to agree to participate it oftentimes comes back to the question of who will be selected to question, to interrogate candidates and to the point the trying to influence that decision we've seen over and over now the caller mentioned if you had so-called left-leaning and fox news as well i concluded it doesn't seem to matter what network, where the journalists are selected from their going to be questioning or attacking the journalists. we have had this with donald trump questioning and attacking fox news journalists. chris wallace for example is moderated presidential debates and others in the primary. so in some ways i think it is used by some candidates as a strategy to try and work the

rest if you will that they are biased against me so expect that. that question is always there in terms of will the journalist be fair. i think it's important for us to look at what sort of issue discussion, issue agenda do they bring to the debate and then when the candidates are responding, do they press the candidates to respond to the question, to clarify those are important issues and can be very difficult for journalists. >> might, youngstown ohio. independent line you are next. >> good morning to you. i'm a democrat and i'm proud to be a democrat and donald trump he spews hatred. i never heard a politician, i

think he's out of his mind. the last debate he didn't answer any questions or he did not do anything. just starting trouble, everywhere he goes he wants to start trouble. he doesn't want to debate on the issues he wants to start trouble. and i really don't understand what the people see in him. host: your comments on that and about the idea if a candidate doesn't answer the question. guest: certainly what we typically have seen on the debate stage is the opportunity for candidates to enact sometimes i refer to it as the presidents reality, do they come across, are they able to persuade voters that they are presidential, they are performing on the stage now. to the question we generally see

differences in terms of their discourse on the stump speech at the rallies, how they will attack, the claims that they make. but that is usually papered somewhat when they get to the debate stage. usually that has not always been the case. i would say i said earlier, harris has it is incumbent upon her to introduce herself, to discuss the issues that she believes are important. voters have that question in terms of who are new to the scene. with donald trump will he be able to get back to the mike funds being controlled will he be able to perform at a level where those who are questioning his temperament, his demeanor

again character will he be able to control that in a manner and is presidential. to your question in terms of responding to the question. we saw some of those attempts in the late june debate with jake tapper and dana bash. it was clear after a line of questioning that quite often the candidates could simply ignore the question put to them, respond to again what their agenda was and quite often that agenda was to attack their opponent. and so, the journalists must be willing to again remind the candidates this is the question and follow-ups. but they're also in those

moments reminding the voters and listeners they evaded the question put to them. that is important i think for those in the debate, can the candidates address in a substantive way what is largely issued based questions and so in some ways that's up to the journalists to see their performance tonight and their ability to hold the candidates to addressing the question. >> on the line for democrats in silver spring maryland, barbara you are next. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i was just listening the gentleman before me really made a lot of very good points braden my thought is i don't know if abraham lincoln already had the nickname honest abe before his debates, but as long as the

candidate can stand up there and perform instead of actually answering questions as the gentleman before me said. when asked a question, if they could just evade answering, that really doesn't give us any kind of information. i think that unless there are fact checkers with our technology nowadays, i don't see why there could not be a red light go off for every lie that is told because otherwise we are just -- and that's all i've got to say. >> professor mckinney. >> even in her pointing out that voters are detracted or

inability to learn, when the candidates will evade the question. and i noticed she concluded that what that means about the candidates. and so therefore i would suggest we find this quite often, those viewers do learn something about the candidates when they consistently evade and will not answer questions and it is at that level of learning about their preparedness, their temperament, their ability to serve as president, either they don't know something or they are unwilling to stake a position on the issues so there is some level of learning even when they evade the questions. the issue of fact checking certainly and i would say here all of the postdebate spin and we have media outlets that will

do postdebate fact checking, 80's quite difficult in real time to offer that level of fact checking as the candidates are speaking. there have been some attempts. there has been some attempts in terms of overlay on the screen, of whatever the issue is. to provide context or additional but it is quite difficult. on this point i would suggest that perhaps the most important fact checkers on the stage are the two candidates. and what i mean by that is what i said earlier about imminent rebuttal is one candidate makes claims, as one candidate offers their version of facts. then do we hear in response the opponent point out inconsistencies or point out where there's no basis for the claims just made.

that can be difficult as well because if a candidate spins -- spend their entire time trying to clean up or respond to their opponent than they are off message, they are not getting their message out but still we expect some level of that response to one's opponent when let's say claims without any basis, outlandish claims exaggerations are made. and then as i said earlier and followed up by journalists for clarificationopportunity, we'vet happening today for the tax on the journalist in terms. all of these elements are important to help viewers, voters understand the debate dialogue. host: virginia, independent line, good morning.

caller: good morning. i'd like to know about these debates. it these people aren't being their true selves anyway. we get all these promises of what they want to do, and we see hardly none of this. they don't tell us how it is going to happen. they say i'm going to give you this much money which i don't think they will ever be giving anybody any money. if they need food, they need to give them food or shelter or whatever but they don't need to be handing out money. but anyway, i don't put much confidence in any of these today. thank you. guest: they are raising a good point in terms of duty get the true candidate, their true self? certainly in terms of their ability to provide an in-depth issue position on how they would enact policy, and a 90 minute

debate, we can get some level of detail. we can some level, some sense of their position. yet is this the true candidate? acton point out, and we ask voters futility of debate and what they get from the dictates. so here's a moment where the candidates come to the stage without a teleprompter, much like it is a planned event. not so on the debate stage. it is just them, the opponent with no handlers. no prepared text, no teleprompter. and voters do find the debate moments as perhaps one of the

more authentic moments. now, we can question what we are hearing from the candidate, but i think on that level we then make an assessment of ok, to go back to the earlier question, they responded to that question. voters are able to make those assistant and again, from the debate performances, unlike in the other moments where the candidates control messaging and communication. post: we got this in text. it is mybsvation that today's debates are not debates, but rather, a double interview which adds to the percentage of biased on behalf of moderators. where is the give-and-take? what do you think of that? guest: we hear this quite often

in terms of what we regard as true debate. someone made reference earlier to lincoln and douglas debates, where for example, yes it was just the candidates on the stage. just the candidates on the stage for three hours, and the first speaker had one hour to give a position followed by a 30 minute rebuttal. now, certainly that format is not going to be appealing to the american public. often times in the true debate some reference to something like a collegiate or forensic debate of a rapid back-and-forth just between someone who takes the affirmative and then the negative side of one single position. on the presidential debate stage, you tried some instances of the moderators and

journalists offering up a topic and then just letting the candidates go back and forth. that was tried and some vice presidential debates. for example, with al gore. that experiment did not work because instead of interacting with each other, to candidates would simply try to filibuster and just talk and talk over. this is what led to the muted mics. i think one can regard whatever notion of the debate, yet what we have is the ability for rest to hear from the candidates, to also see the candidates interacting with each other, responding to each other, and therefore we consistently find debate viewers come away much more informed, they know more

about issue positions, they form an assessment of a candidate character from the debate performance, so these debate moments are quite useful for voters. host: diane in ohio, republican line, good morning. caller: good morning, thank you for taking the skull. there was a reference to i think two callers back now that made this statement that trump just bladders and bladders and this stuff. he does have that kind of personality but he doesn't mean half of it. they talk about what he's doing out in the open, but they don't know what biden is doing behind closed doors. my god, this country in so much trouble, it's unbelievable. it's not just kids hungry in the united states these days, my

god. this is just basic middle income that is getting killed and shot down for everything going up so high. and him doing nothing and him keeping the gates totally open. and my god, they just are flooding in. and now for example, sheridan is wanting us to become a sanctuary state. i've got family that live in those states. a woman was killed, a 16-year-old two years ago. host: so is your question about the debates regarding how immigration might be handled? is that what you wanted? go ahead. caller: i think -- guest: i think that raising number of important issues in terms of cost of basic things,

immigration. but we find in that debate encounter as i said earlier, 90 minutes, these debates typically cover a range of issues. the question is, they usually will cover issues that have been identified as most important to voters. now, will voters come to the moment and really understand what the candidates ideas are in addressing these issues? again, the caller raised several of these issues, and when we make an assessment of yeah, this candidate had some ideas on how to address whatever the issues might be, the cost of childcare, for example, when that was put

them, they've been the didn't say much. they didn't seem to have any idea of how to address these issues. again, this debate moment affords up that opportunity. host: brian is in akron, ohio and says what role might play in tonight's debate? guest: interesting question. i think this gets caught up with the muting of the mics, and the last caller pointed to i call the donald trump debate style, typically a very aggressive, sometimes bombastic style. he himself has said that he likes to control the moment. we saw in 2016 last time we had a female nominee, hillary

clinton, the democratic nominee, there were those moments and particularly i'm thinking about moments in the town hall presidential debate. we had a town hall debate in 2016 where the candidates, basically emphasized performative nature, he performative aspect of the candidates, so in a town hall debate that is very much the case because they are roaming about the stage, interacting with citizens. it was in that debate where there were moments of suggesting that donald trump thought hillary clinton was responding, was in her space, was behind her, was grimacing. but then we heard in other debates, and this was before the microphones were cut off, the name calling, the taunting, with the previous caller mentioned as somewhat characteristic.

that was an interjection while hillary clinton was responding. i think this may be where the needed microphones will work to the advantage of dr. trump, to control that tendency or ability to taunt or to attack. that could be seen is not appropriate or not presidential in terms of how one interacts with their opponent. so i think there's a lot of questions that are raised in terms of how these two candidates will interact with each other. host: gregory sherman, california, you are next. caller: i would like to ask professor mckinney what he thinks of this idea. namely, why not a presidential debate moderated by, say, a trio of 20-something student

moderators who will ask the candidates about the issues that really have the longest consequence, sadly, the least engaged in voting. questions that will affect their far future. and i would start with climate destruction. this is really the most important issue we've got. often the president of other things going up and down over several months are not nearly as consequential over the rest of our lives, especially older people's lives, as what we're doing to the planet into the world we live in. this is really important stuff. younger people should be engaged on it and i would like to suggest that c-span sponsor a presidential debate and tried to

get the candidates to engage with these young moderators who would ask them the really port questions about the long-term carbon budgeting. there is another long-term issue. every year we are doing the financial budget. some european countries, i believe, have a carbon budget along with their money budgeting. the united states is the most carbon intensive country per capita and in absolute terms of all of all the countries. host: threats pick that up. guest: -- let's pick that up. we could have different questioners. gregory suggests that younger citizens question the candidates because they would bring to that debate for different issue agenda. and actually, we have found

similar in our analysis of debates. so we have tried to interject, to include, and we did that in the form of townhome debates when idling starting in 1992 in the town hall debates, until the last cycle in 2020 for this cycle of debates. a group of citizens randomly selected in the city where that debate was located questioners, interrogate the candidate. and in our analysis of those debates, found that the issue agenda that the questions raised in a town hall debate closely mirrored the most important issues that citizens indicated were important to them in the

election. even more so than a journalist-red debates. and the reason being, typically in the journalist-led debates, you will have included a sequence or a series of questions, character-based questions of your opponent has said this about you, how do you respond, for you said this, but when citizens stand and ask the questions, it is typically always about some issue that affects them, that matters to them. i'm using that as an example to suggest gregory is onto something. yes, we could have a different questionnaire in a debate anything that would highlight a different issue. host: also in california, this

time -- looks like we lost that call, so we will go to minnesota, independent line. caller: good morning. i want to tap into the skill of the guest. what information can we tap into that shows what rules were followed or used during the debate, and what resources can we go to to follow or review those past debates, and what rules were followed? guest: good question. one resource that comes to mind immediately, we had gone away from, in this cycle, the commission on presidential debates that has been the sponsor, the independent sponsor of presidential debates starting

in the early 1980's. the debate commission i'm sure is still there, and has the archive of past presidential debates. transcripts, links to videos. one is like wait a minute, what did they talk about 1964 also ascertains that the format, the rules of the debate, how the debates were structured,

i suggest we the voters are asked to define. that is what we do in an election. to that point, it was in a tweet before he had truth social. this is going back to his first term after elected where he commented on his ability to redefine presidential. the new presidential. and i think that that is so much of what, again, as i set on the debate stage, that provides voters the opportunity to define that. and whether it is acceptable in

a president. and another thing the debate moment allows us to do unlike any other time is to have that ready contrast. the only moment that our major party candidates are face-to-face and it provides as a contrast, quite often a stark contrast. and then we make a decision. that's another element of what the debate allows us to do. host: i just want to end with your advice to both of the candidates. if you are asked by the campaign, what piece of advice would you give them for tonight's debate? >> i would go back early in our discussion, and by the way, the discussion, i always enjoy responding with c-span columnist but i would go back in terms of

a think there is a different directive, imperative for both of these candidates. for kamala harris, to use this opportunity to introduce herself as a potential president and what she believes her vision and how she will address these important issues that are significant to voters. as i said, she's relatively new to the scene in terms of a possible president. for donald trump, he is certainly more well-known. views have been formed in terms of those who are for him and against him. so therefore, i think we are looking to see his ability, c respond to this new -- how does he respond to this new opponent

and how does he convince voters that yes, he is presidential, he can continue serving, returned to service as a president, or will voters decide no, that is too risky, we don't want that? that is his imperative tonight on the debate stage. host: mitchell mckinney, dean of the college of arts and sciences, thank you so much for joining us today. guest: i've enjoyed it very ch. host: more your calls coming up for tight's big debate. you can start calling in now. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republican, (202) 748-8001. independent, (202) 748002. stay with us.

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host: welcome back. we are taking your calls this morning on the debate. the debate is tonight. i want to show you, c-span sent a crew up to philadelphia for the debate and here is a portion of what we saw. take a look. >> we are in the city of brotherly love for the abcs presidential debate between vice president harris and former president donald trump. while the candidates will be taking the state at the national constitution center located across from independence hall, the media will be gathering at the pennsylvania convention center which is about five blocks away. a large hall within the one million square-foot convention center's were tv and radio networks will broadcast from, where print and wireless will file their stories, and where photographers will capture and transmit their shots. it's also where campaign

surrogates will flock after the debate to make pitches to the media. this is steve, a field crew chief with c-span serving as a production manager for coverage in philadelphia. >> my job is to make all the remote portions of our production the integrated interested you production that we are going to have as part of the debate. my role here has been to plan and facilitate airspace and all the technical elements that go along with that. our plan here today is to send three signals back to d.c., which will be incorporated into that program like i mentioned, and the whole idea is to make it as easy as possible on the director on the other end. one camera is dedicated to kind of showing the stage and then doing interviews with any reporters for debates that we can get. we will have another camera that is going to offer a perspective of the room which we will see in

a little bit just how big this room is, and another one which i will be operating myself is a roving a camera where i am going to be signed once the spin room post debate is in full effect, i'll be within the crowd trying to get listening in on what the surrogates are saying. >> how has technology changed since you started your>> this ie election cycle where i participated in a debate. some of the technology has remained the same. in other ways it has improved dramatically. i showed you that wireless camera i will be walking around with. that unit has shrunk over time, gotten more compact. it does things with a slider delay over time and gets better and better. same for our microphones and cameras. the big thing that is different

is how we are getting the signals back to d.c. everyone has seen a tv satellite truck on the side of the road. everybody knows about the fiber-optic network. that used to be the primary way. technology has changed where we can bring small little devices that are actually cellular. think about apple's face time on steroids with multiple phones within the device that are sending things back. we are using an ethernet connection and wi-fi to center signal back. it's a lot easier on my end and it offers a lot of stability at the same time. that has been the big difference. >> how does the spin room compared to previous debates? >> the debates i have done our part of the commission on presidential debates that usually schedules three debates and one vice presidential one. this one is different because for all we know this could be the only time that former

president trump and vice president harris are together on a stage to debate each other. you can definitely see the interest. we are in the filing center and spin room. both chairs for the filing center, we have gotten close to 1000 seats in there. that is by far way bigger than i have ever seen. the same could be said going around the perimeter. there are different networks setting up their equipment. this is a lot of stuff going on here. a lot of interest. that will be the biggest difference. >> which has been your favorite so far? >> anyone in the press will say their favorite is associated with the party. when debate happened at belmont university in nashville. we got to see -- the press got a private concert at the auditorium. we got to see brad paisley among others. really cool to be in there.

and when what their salt will say it is the press party. >> thank you for your time. host: that was the c-span crew in philadelphia. the debate is tonight. our coverage starts at 8:00 p.m. eastern time on c-span2 and c-span now and c-span.org. we will simulcast the abc debate starting at 9:00 p.m eastern. after th debate, you have a chance to weigh in with reacti call ins. we are running a poll right now asking theio do debates matter? you can weigh in onhaat c-span.org/polls. to your calls. to mary in maryland, democrat. caller: good morning. my opinion on the debates. they don't really matter. my mind is made up.

when they have the debates i hope they stick to the issues and don't start talking about each other's families and calling names. as far as i'm concerned my mind is made up. host: all right. shawna, nashville, tennessee. republican. caller: good morning. i will agree that nashville is a beautiful city. belmont university is a beautiful campus. i'm not surprised by his answer there. my question is, is it possible that the moderators for the debate -- who is it that decides the moderators? is it between both campaigns? the moderators for tonight's debate are mostly democrat, left-wing moderators. how are the american people able

to say this debate was put forth fairly and not biased towards kamala harris because she is the democrat? host: are you talking about the actual journalists from abc news or how was it decided that abc news would be the one hosting the debate? caller: i believe -- i guess it is both. they are both with abc. abc is mainly a left-leaning type of network. their journalists moderating it, statistics show their coverage of kamala harris has been 100% positive, and vice versa their coverage of donald trump has been 93% negative. how are the american people supposed to view the debate

unbiased? host: david mure and lindsay davis are the moderators. here is tanya, st. petersburg, florida. caller: good morning. i want to say it does matter when we listen to the debates. you will really find out who is telling the truth and not telling the truth and what they are going to work on for our community, our country, and how we are supposed to be equal. i'm glad that harris wants to join the republicans so we can be united together, not running against each other. host: lloyd, west virginia. republican. caller: good morning. i don't think the debates is all that good in a case like this. i know what trump is, what he

stands for, what he's done. kamala, i don't know what she's done the last four years. i would like for them to ask kamala how they figure that donald trump -- how the 2020 election was a good and fair election. how they treated him for four years and light on him, russia, russia, and even the fbi. they admitted they knew it was nothing to it. people like adam schiff ought to be in jail. some of the other democrats. the reason they don't like trump is because he's not a puppet. biden was a puppet and so is kamala. that is what she is going to be. that is what i've got to say. host: we are going to continue to take your calls about the

debate until the end of the program at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. we will pause not on our calls to talk to a research director at the center for opinion at franklin and marshall college. welcome to the program. guest: thanks for having me. host: the debate is in philadelphia. early voting across pennsylvania starts next monday. remind us about what is happening in pennsylvania as a critical swing state. guest: i think most polling shows the race is a tossup. it is probably within a point or two in could go either way. our polling shows about 10% or so of voters who were still making up their minds, which i think is what makes this debate tonight really important. it is the first time the voters in this state and elsewhere are

going to have a chance to see the candidates side-by-side and reacting to one another. host: polls are essentially tied in pennsylvania. what has been the trend since president biden dropped out of the race? guest: it was interesting. president biden was losing pretty significantly in pennsylvania after his debate to performance. the polls had widened and he was trailing former president trump by a few points. it looked like the election was running away from him and towards the republicans. since kamala harris entered the race, there has been a change. much of the polling indicated, at least for the first month or so of her candidacy that she had a slight advantage in the state. that is probably narrowing a little bit. at this point we are. -- we are net can. -- neck and neck.

host: how big is the group of undecided voters in pennsylvania? could you describe that voter? guest: if you look at the polls, many will show a small number of people who say they don't know. maybe 2% or 3%. if you look at the people who say they don't know who also say they are still making up their mind even if they have a preferred candidate, that number gets bigger. it is like 10%, 12%, 15%. what we know about those voters is two things. most of them are moderate. pennsylvania has a lot of moderate voters. probably 40% of the electorate is moderate. if you formulate undecided voters, those that are still making up their minds and those i don't know, it's roughly 20% of moderate voters who were undecided in this state. the other group or independent

voters. they make up probably 10% of the state's voters. 40% are still making up their mind. i think along ideological lines and partisan lines, that is where the divisions are. what's important for this debate is for both candidates to find a way to talk to those moderate and independent voters. host: are there certain geographic areas in pennsylvania that are especially critical? guest: yeah. it depends which candidate you are talking about here. the if you remember or think back to 2020, donald trump won 54 of the 67 counties. he did really well in rural communities. i think he needs to build on those numbers he had in 2020. try to get his advantage in those counties back to where was in 2016. for harris, we are looking

around philadelphia. those counties. they are important for her to have a large margin to win a large share of the vote. allegheny county where pittsburgh is located, philadelphia. she needs to do well in those two places. since he is u -- she has entered the race, that is how her support has consolidated in the state. if you are looking from outside the state, one of the most important swing counties, probably erie county in monroe county -- and monroe county. the far northwest in the lehigh valley. they will be the areas that ultimately determine who wins pennsylvania. the liver can wi -- whoever can win those counties is likely to win the state. host: as far as the top issues,

are they pretty much the same as voters in the rest of the country? guest: i think so. you have to be careful about had you asked that question. we asked what is the most important problem facing the state. in that case people say it is the economy. when you ask what is most important in their vote for president, you see a different lineup. the economy is still the top of the list for people supporting president trump. immigration comes in second in the state. on the other side, kamala harris's numbers, women's rights are well ahead of the economy, as our concerns about character and democracy. immigration doesn't even show up as a concern among those voters. it depends how you ask the question. i would say the issues animating voters across the nation probably are working in the same

ways in pennsylvania. host: there is the senate race that is very competitive now in pennsylvania. and a demo getting senator bob casey going against challenger dave mccormick. -- incumbent democrat senator bob casey. guest: recently the race has tightened a little bit. there is a lot of advertising going on in that campaign. we see almost as many ads for that race as we see in the presidential race. i would say at this point senator casey is running ahead of kamala harris. we still expect this race to be tight. at the moment senator casey has an advantage. there is a long way to go. the job approval ratings are in that kind of area where it makes him vulnerable. as he tells the story of how people perceive his time

in office. there will be a lot of money spent in the race. host: would -- berwood yost from lancaster, pennsylvania. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you. host: we will get back to your calls. we are talking about the debate tonight and asking do you think debates matter, are you watching, what are you watching for? is there something you are looking for specifically? something you want to ask the candidates are hope the moderators ask? you can share that with us. on the line for democrats is faye in farmville, virginia. caller: good morning. hi. what i'm looking for is holding the candidates to being honest. be respectful. not with name-calling. i hear the viewers for trump to call her -- her name is not

camela and they know that. that is what trump is known to do to be disrespectful. i would like for them to remind people what it was four years ago. how could america forget so much about how many lives were lost because of his disrespect for the pandemic we were going through? i would like for them to hold him accountable when he does not tell the truth or does not answer the question. thank you. host: elizabeth, mckeesport, pennsylvania. independent. caller: how i feel about the debate tonight? being from pennsylvania, very close to pittsburgh, all i have been dealing with our commercials nonstop debating pretty much between the two parties. no, i won't be watching tonight but i'm sure from now until

november 5 i will be hearing everything that happened tonight. host: you are going to be hearing a lot of ads. have you decided how you are going to vote? caller: yes ma'am. i have. host: do you want to share that with us or are you going to keep that to yourself? caller: i will be voting for kamala harris and tim walz. had biden not dropped out of the race it was going to be dan ratzinger. i was just done with everything. no way will i vote for the other option. host: tell me what you did not want to vote for biden when he was still in the race? caller: because i thought he had lost his gumption. i did see the debate, the last debate. i felt very sorry for the man. i really did.

i really did, because it was kind of humiliating to watch that gentleman who i know had done a lot for the country. yeah. i needed someone new. liz cheney. she would have been on my ballot also. kamala harris has brought hope. that is wonderful, you know. and excitement. yeah, that is where i'm headed. i am done with all of the political ads and every time they take a commercial break you get pounded -- pounded. even bob casey and mccormick. host: i can imagine you are getting a lot of ads in pennsylvania. doug in burlington, north carolina. independent. you are also in a swing state.

caller: good morning, mimi. i really don't think it's going to be a very fair debate. ex-president trump has spent a lot more time in the courtroom than vice president harris. thank you. host: all right. anthony in baltimore, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. we are going to watch the debate with a set of teenagers, my children. we are making it mandatory. it is important because this has been such a very interesting political period. what happens tonight will give them an idea of how the american political system should or should not work.

not only that, as they enter into adulthood what happens to negative very well be a capstone as far as what their lives are going to be like for the future. there are two different sets of federal this country. not only that, we have potentially the first woman president of the united states. i have a household of girls. it's important for them to sit and watch them carry their wei ght as far as how the debate goes and whether or not this country is ready for the first woman president. host: any parents that are listening now of teenagers, do you recommend they make this mandatory for their kids to watch? caller: yes. i certainly do. especially if you have a family of girls who sometimes feel the boys get more attention or feel

like men get more attention. this debate be pivotal to their thinking as far as what they can do and what they should be expecting the world to respect them to do. host: let's take a look at a moment from the vice presidential debate of 2020. this is vice president harris against incumbent vice president mike pence the time. [video] >> amy coney barrett is confirmed, are you and joe biden, if somehow you when the election going to pack us up in court to get your way? >> i'm so glad we went through a little history lesson. let's do that more. in 1860 -- >> answer the question. >> i'm speaking. i'm speaking, ok? in 1864, one of the political heroes of the president and i and also you is abraham lincoln.

abraham lincoln was up for reelection. it was 27 days before the election. a seat became open on the u.s. supreme court. abraham lincoln's party was in charge not only the white house but the senate. honest abe said not the right thing to do. the american people deserve to make the decision about who will be the next president of the united states and a person can select who will serve for a lifetime on the highest court of our land. so joe and i are very clear. the american people are voting right now. it should be there decision -- their decision who will serve on this most important body for a lifetime. host: the debate between vice president harris and former president trump will be tonight.

coverage starts atp.m. eastern on c-span2. also on c- and c-span.org. we will begin our simulcast oftd then after the debate wrapsp you will have a chance to call and share your thoughts. we are taking your calls now about what you are expecting from tonight' debate, wha are looking for if you are watching it, how important it is for that debate. we are taking your calls until the end of the program when we take you over to the house at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. i want to bring this to your attention. here is from thehill.com. covid subcommittee accuses cuomo of doing wrongdoing. that is former governor of new york. andrew cuomo. the gop select subcommittee yesterday published findings from its investigation into former new york governor andrew cuomo's actions during

the covid-19 pandemic alleging evidence of the governor's office deliberately seeking to conceal the extent of nursing home deaths due to the virus. the results of the investigation come one day before cuomo is set to testify before the committee. that testimony is today. we are going to be coving that. we will have live coverage of that testimony cing up today at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. that is going to be on c-span3. also on c-span now and c-span.o rg if you would like to follow that online. chris is in columbus, georgia. independent. caller: i have been trying to call you guys. i appreciate the opportunity to say what i have to say. one of the main things is that one of the callers said earlier. her name is kamala. please put some respect on the woman's name.

if you can't pronounce it right, say meta-vice president. -- madame vice president. john casey is my dude. he should have beaten donald trump a long time ago. he was working with democrats and republicans. tonight i expect a lot of disrespect coming from the republican party got her name. if they can keep that under control and recognize the do lost, he's a loser and it is what it is. republicans, get over yourself. democrats, fight better. independents, support the people that align with our rights. have a great day. host: el paso, texas. republican. jim. hello? jim in el paso, are either? -- are you there? caller: my name is actually chandler. host: sorry about that. caller: i am calling from el

paso. i would like to say good morning to you and to the rest of the nation. i hope everybody had an awesome weekend. i'm excited for tonight's debate. i'm excited to see president trump showcase a lot of the failures this administration has put forth to our nation over the past four years. i don't want this to get political. i am an eyewitness to the massive border crisis in el paso. i am seeing hundreds, if not thousands of migrants enter our country and take over a lot of the resources here in our town and the border area here. i'm looking forward to president trump getting our country back. thank you very much. have a good day. host: katrina. laurel, maryland. your next.

-- you are next. caller: i want to say -- the moderators -- host: i don't know the answer to that, katrina. there is going to be some fact-check organizations fact checking. politifact.org will be live fact checking the debate. caller: the last time trump won on a lot of lies and nobody called him out. nobody should allow any of them to just spew anything and say anything you like and everybody will take it. no. if he says something everybody knows is not true, you have to say no. that is false. millions of people are going to be listening. for some people, once they hear

it is the gospel truth. we have facts and lines. if something -- lies. if something is not true, you should be able to say no, that is not the right thing. it goes for both candidates. i hope that is done. everybody listening, everybody watching. not just anything. facts and the truth. host: bill in massachusetts. independent line. caller: thanks for taking my call. i i want to say where was kamala with the border situation? we have not seen the real balance of this. where was the president? we are predicting these illegals will form cells and go into

guerrilla warfare. lower enforcement -- law enforcement is not ready for that. she did a terrible job as a vice president and we will only find out as the crime rate goes up in this country. mr. biden just opened up the border to a bunch of illegals that are really going to hurt the country. watch out, america. host: are you going to be watching the debate tonight? caller: yes, i will. host: what are you watching for, listening for? caller: mr. trump sometimes is a little arrogant and uses the word 'i' a lot, but he's the only one with the curses of forward to face these immigrants. they will form these cells and pull our country down. host: steve in anderson,

indiana. republican. caller: i would like to ask the vice president what she is going to do about all the fentanyl that is coming in and killing all of our young kids. what has she got to say to all the hundreds of thousands of people out here that has has to deal with the deaths of all these children and people dying from the fentanyl? which he at least apologize to all these family members that she has caused so much pain? i have had three family members in my family alone dying from fentanyl. it's an epidemic. it has killed more than any of

these wars that's going on. it is killing thousands and destroying people's lives. she needs to be held accountable. the whole democratic party does. they have allowed this to happen. it ain't just her. all the democrats voted on these illegals to come in here. we have to put a stop to it. the rate it is going we are not going to have any of our kids left. somebody needs to address this issue that we have. i don't know if trump can stop it or not. it is embedded in our country so bad right now that we can't seem

to get a handle on it. we need to open up some resources to handle our drugs epidemic that we have. no justt -- not just letting them like in san francisco lay around and do drugs on the streets and stuff. something has got to be done with it. host: rick in boston, the line for democrats. caller: i want to make a couple of comments. i hate to use these words. as far as white people are concerned, -- [indiscernible] it is racism and stuff. talking about people coming across the border. the talking about mexicans being rapists and murderers.

[indiscernible] he's talking about poisoning the blood of the country. he's committing crimes since he has been in the white house. [indiscernible] yeah, he's a businessman. his son getting $2 billion from saudi arabia. talking about -- he shouldn't even be on the ballot. the supreme court is crooked. i hope kamala harris arrest those six supreme court justices who said that no crime was committed by trump. host: columbia, maryland. independent line. luke. good morning. caller: good morning, america. the issues i with a for them to talk about, both candidates. the first seems to be one of the most important issues,

reproductive rights. the third trimester. the second one would be gender transformation surgery. i would like to understand that for minors, not for adult. specifically, you know, to be clarified with that. the next one would be the small business grant -- excuse me, tax credit for new businesses. the low-interest loans, like they did in covid for small business. finally, the clarification on the capital gains tax. that is what i would like. host: what specifically about the capital gains tax? caller: what is the threshold of it? it seems to be not clear for me what the actual -- maybe if you can even mention what that

threshold is. host: all right. republican line, michigan. owen. good morning. caller: how are you? host: i'm doing great. caller: i do not like what kamala harris has been doing for the country. she has been saying the same stuff donald trump has been saying. it is bull crap. it should not be allowed. pretty much what she has been doing for her campaign has been based off donald trump. host: are you going to be watching tonight? caller: yes, i'm going to be watching tonight. host: what are you going to be looking for? anything specifically? caller: i will be looking for how donald trump performs tonight and i hope he does the same performance like he did on the biden debate. host: stephen, democrat.

lexington, kentucky. hello. caller: good morning, mimi. thank you for allowing me to speak. i wanted to take a moment to educate some of the people that take it at face value. even republicans tried to fix the border. republicans tries to fix the border. there are a couple of senators who specifically tried to let -- create a plan. they brought it forward. they did not -- no republican wanted to vote for it because it would have given the democrats -- i'm using their quotes, a win. trump did not want to bring it forward because of have given the republicans -- the democrats more points. you guys are shooting yourselves in the foot. you tried to fix the border yourselves and you didn't even want to. how are you complaining about letting immigrants in? you guys yourselves had a plan

to stop that and then allowed to move forward with it. it is so hypocritical. just because it doesn't help trump? it helps the country. look it up. it is truth. it is a real thing. republicans, open your eyes. try to do something for the country for once. thank you. host: houston, texas. independent line. ben, good morning. caller: i will be watching the debate tonight. most of all, you know, with the border. i really want to see if one of the candidates would commit to making it a priority to prosecute people that hire illegal aliens. if we wasn't hiring them then they wouldn't come.

put the onus on the people coming but they don't put the onus on the people that is supplying jobs to illegal aliens. i think that is not the proper way it should be done. the middle class is really taking a beating on our taxes. i have been paying taxes all my life. i remember in my lifetime when you could deduct interest you paid on a car or on credit cards. all that got a limited. we are just -- all that got eliminated. we are just taking a beating. i think the country has to move forward. i know for a fact, like the previous settlement said, they did put together a bipartisan agreement to deal with the border crossings but the former president of the united states used his power and influence to shut that down because he felt

it would give the democrats a better platform. which is not a democrat or republican platform. it is just a platform that is good for the country as a whole. i would like to see if someone would address some of those issues. host: take a look at a portion from yesterday. senate majority leader chuck schumer criticizing the house gop's continuing resolution linked to the save act. also praised speaker johnson for accepting topline spending figures. [video] >> it is a shame that house of representatives is once again wasting time catering to the hard right instead of doing the hard work of responsible bipartisan governance. speaker johnson's slapdash resolution is not a serious effort to fund our government. if house republicans were serious, they would sit down and

craft a bill in a bipartisan fashion. consulting with me, house democratic leader in the white house. -- and the white house. they would actually achieve the common goal of funding the government. if house republicans were serious they would not kick the can down the road for half a year, jeopardizing our military readiness and troop pay and interrupting critical domestic investments. if house republicans were serious they would work across the aisle to craft a cr that does not allow it to lapse -- a lapse of community health centers. it would work with the senate to make sure we extend vital programs that protect our border and our economy, like e-verify and h-2b visas. if house republicans were serious they would work with democrats to avoid the farm bill expiration in december and prevent the horrible dairy cliff that would hurt our farmers.

if the funding provided by the farm bill expires before react, thousands of dairy farmers could be very seriously harmed and put in real jeopardy. it would extend costs straight of the roof for consumers on a lot of agricultural base goods. the house republicans cr is unserious. it is pure partisan posturing. democrats will do everything we can to avoid a republican manufactured shutdown. we are ready to work on a bipartisan bill to keep the government open and extraneous provisions should be set aside. despite all this, speaker johnson knows deep down he needs to work with democrats to get anything done, because that has been through this entire time. it is a good sign, madam president, that the johnson cr finally accepts the bipartisan topline spending agreement i reached with him months ago as part of the deal to prevent the default. it is clear any final agreement

will maintain that funding level. let's stop wasting time and put together a bipartisan funding plan that fulfills or obligations to prevent a costly and unnecessary republican government shutdown. host: senator schumer talking about the funding deadline coming up at the end of the month, september 30. back to your calls. kathy in michigan. republican line. you are on. caller: i hate to use my 30 day limit for this but i have called in about that. i will be watching the debate and go trump. the clip you showed a vice president harris in the debate with pence, that just proved what the republicans did when they didn't allow garland to be put up for a vote for the supreme court. she just said you don't do that

just before an election. she was talking about the lincoln -- i think the lincoln thing. it just proves you don't put someone up for the supreme court that seen before an election. that is why garland was not put -- democrat garland was not put it back during the presi -- during president obama's administer ration. host: that was a year before the election. ruth bader ginsburg died at the end of september. the senate did put her replacement up in october, a month before the election. it is kind of a different situation there. caller: it was too soon. that was only a month before the election. that is too soon. it is a very distinct difference between vice president harris

and former president trump. look at the last four years. we have had two wars. we have had hostages still. there is cocaine found in the white house. they were trans men showing their breasts on the white house floor -- lawn. you know. it really has been bad these last four years. we have high prices. host: are you going to be watching tonight, the debate? caller: i wouldn't miss it. host: if you could ask a question, what would you ask? caller: i would ask vice president harris, well, why she is flip-flopping. senator bertie sanders answered

that yesterday when he said she's only doing it to win an election. he came right out and said that. host: we will pause on our calls because we will speak to a national political reporter from politico, alayna schneider. welcome to the program. guest: thanks for having me. host: what are the campaigns saying about tonight's debate and what each candidate has to do and what the objectives are? guest: the objectives are both donald trump and kamala harris are actually quite similar. they are both looking to define the vice president, who has a number of callers have identified is very new to this campaign. she has only been the democratic presidential nominee for about six or seven weeks. a lot of voters still don't know much about her and are interested in learning more about her. that is what we have seen in public and private polling.

that is what both campaigns will try to do. kamala harris's campaign will try to define what some of her policy portfolio is going to be focused on, what her agenda will be as president and tackle some of the frustrations around inflation and cost-of-living. also trying to present herself as cool, calm, collected and projecting this presidential presence. trump will to get under her skin and do the same to him. trump would like to define her as somebody very much attached to the biden administration and frustrations around the status quo. he wants to maintain his advantages as being seen as the change candidate. that is what he's going to try to do in the debate. it is high-stakes for both because it is possible this will be the only presidential debate we will see this fall. the only time these two may meet on state. it's important for them to try and not lose undecided voters

during the debate. host: talk about what each of the candidate has done as far as preparations for tonight. guest: kamala harris for the last several days has been holed up in a hotel in pittsburgh. she has taken a couple of trips to do some campaigning in western pennsylvania but largely stayed with her staff to run through full mock debates. full 90 minute efforts in which a staffer is playing the part of donald trump, complete with the accent, the exaggerated tie length, the method acting of preparing her for going on stage against donald trump. these two have basically not spend very much time together one on one and are unfamiliar with each other. she is trying to prepare for that -- through method acting.

through all this practice to be on stage with a staffer who is playing donald trump. trump is doing something different. staffers are loath to call it debate prep. . they call it policy sessions staffers bat around questions and policy issues and want to try to go after harris on. it is less of a formal mock debate setting. donald trump is preparing. we know more than he did into a 16 and 2020 ahead of those debate. p is taking this quite seriously. he is really trying to prepare to go up against kamala harris in this debate tonight. host: after the debate, explain the spin room. guest: the spin room is something journalist are quite familiar with. often journalists are not always in the room itself watching the debate. some will be in there tonight

but the large majority will not physically be in the room to watch the debate. many are sitting to the site, watch it on tv screens just like viewers and voters will. a whole slew of surrogates on behalf of the campaigns come out immediately after the debate to spin the media on how they view the debate and trying to push positive narratives for their own campaigns, to attack their opposition. it is a traditional part of the debate practice that we saw all through the 2020 primaries and obviously through the 2024 primaries. floods of surrogates come out to try to push for their own candidate, both to talk to reporters face-to-face and go on television. host: what we know about their plans for after tonight? guest: tomorrow -- yes.

tomorrow is the 23rd anniversary of september 11. both campaigns are going to be honoring the memory of those who were lost that day. both are actually going to be in new york city and pennsylvania. kamala harris will be at least in part for those remembrances with president joe biden. they will be out together. donald trump will be out there. we believe he will go to a firehouse tomorrow. it is broadly about focusing on those who were lost on september 11. we connect spec to return to traditional fundraisers and rallies immediately after that. host: this is the first time they will actually physically meet each other. are they going to greet each other? are they going to shake hands? do you know? guest: we don't know yet. they are going to watch for whether or not that happens.

things were a little different for years ago with covid. protocols around that were different. i don't believe joe biden at donald trump shook hands at the beginning of their debate. we will wait and see what happens. that will be the first, you know, big thing to watch for as they take the debate stage, how they interact with each other and whether or not they formally greet each other on stage. host: alayna schneider, national political reporter for politico. our work is at politico.com. guest: thanks for having me. host: we are back to your calls. 10 minutes left before we take you over to the house. rick in connecticut, democrat. you are next. caller: hey mimi. i think you are gorgeous. anybody who thinks donald trump has a chance against this woman is absurd. the ignorance of maga is

staggering. host: what are you going to be looking for tonight? caller: i'm looking for kamala harris to eat trump alive. he can call chris christie a fat pig. i call him butterball. host: here is sam. independent line. rockville, maryland. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the issue i want to talk about is how misinformed people seem to be on the immigration issues. my career is in the public housing environment. we manage -- 90% of the beneficiaries in these programs are nativeborn americans.

only about 1% or less have an immigration status. even if they do, there are legal immigrants who benefit. a lot of people have a requirement to be approved to these government programs. it is profoundly ignorant when trump or some of the people think it's a problem. it is a net benefit for the country. most are doing construction jobs no americans want. they cut the grass. they build the bridges and highways. people need to know this. host: to the republican line,

pennsylvania. al, good morning. caller: good morning. i have two quick questions for the democrats out there. first of all, who did you vote for in the democratic primary? you didn't get to vote, because they took your vote away when they appointed kamala. and, you think joe biden has done such a wonderful job. what rock are you living under? thank you. host: eugene, the line for democrats. indianola, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i want to talk about the border real quick. i was in houston, texas, working construction for 25 years. i'm 66. i was down there from 1978

to 2003. immigrants have been coming in for a long time. the reason i'm calling, george bush junior. i wasn't happy because they were taking a lot of the construction jobs. when george bush junior got in, he did not put someone in -- can you having? host: we can hear you. caller: i'm sorry. we have a texas president coming in here. i thought he was flu -- would slow it down. i'm not prejudiced. i'm truly not prejudiced. this country needed the workers. my point here is the border issue has been going on for a long time with the republicans and democrats. i hate when they try to point

the finger on that. host: are you going to be watching the debate tonight? caller: yes ma'am. host: what do you want to see? caller: i want to see -- i know i'm not happy with. i want the other want to do what she should do. i hope she stays confident and cool and collected around him. i think it would be tough. he gets under people's skin. i wish they had a thing with a fact checker. when ally comes up, --a lie comes up, boom. stop. host: diane. caller: thank you for taking this call. i'm calling as a mother and grandma for morals and values and policy. that is what i vote on. i am not sure boys and girls sports. turning boys into girls and girls and the boys.

i'm not on abortion and after birth. i'm not on walz's 10 pounds and boys bathrooms -- tampons in boys bathrooms. under harris and biden, over 300,000 children lost in united states. -- the united states. all these illegals with fentanyl coming and killing people in the united states. she is allowing these jews to be attacked on campuses and streets. there has been up to 20 million illegals. harris could close the border tomorrow. the other reason she's not, she wants amnesty for all these people. they are going to break her social security, medicare and medicaid. host: they don't qualify for social security or medicare,

diane. anthony in rochester, new york. republican. caller: great to be on the program. you have been asking what they are looking for in the debate. i had not heard anyone say honesty. maybe i didn't hear it but that is what i want. honest, concise answers to specific questions. that is what the american people deserve to hear from politicians. host: in previous debates we have not been getting honest answers to questions? caller: on both sides. rarely with trump with more so on the other side. trump in his nature is compelled to exaggerate or whatever or just outright lie. there has been some honesty but in general it is hilarious as a republican. i have not been able to vote republican. i was hoping someone else would

be chosen. i will be voting democratic this time for sure. they complained about immigration when there was a border bill that was squashed because of trump. we know this. it was a bipartisan supported. the concessions the democrats gave. the republicans. they capped it off at 5000 immigrants a day. it was the best they had in years. the only reason it was killed was because donald trump did not want the democrats to have a win. how can the republicans -- host: what is your biggest concern for this election? what is animating your vote? caller: my biggest concern is gun violence. i think their freedom for women to choose and keep things in a doctor's office between the women and their doctors and religion. what has gone on with government? the republicans went government in every aspect of people's lives. gun violence.

the number one cause of accuracy in this country is medicare -- medical offenses. host: we have got to run. tonight is the debate. coverage kicks off tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern time over on c-span2 and online. that is it for our chauffeur today. we are back again tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. in the meantime, have a great day. here's the house. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024]