Hillary Clinton has to prepare for two different Donald Trumps at the first presidential debate Monday.
There’s the scripted opponent who stays on message. And there’s the brash showman who says whatever he wants.
Clinton is spending much of the week getting ready for what her aides call the biggest moment of the general election. But it’s complicated by her unorthodox rival, who is, in the words of a top Democrat, “the perfect opponent to drive her crazy.”
“I do not know which Donald Trump will show up,” she said at a recent fundraiser in New York. “Maybe he will try to be presidential and try to convey a gravity that he hasn't done before. Or will he come in and try to insult and try to score some points?”
The first presidential debate will take place at 9 p.m. Monday at Hofstra University
Clinton has spent weeks reading briefing books to brush up on Trump’s policies and statements, watching Republican primary debates and honing her responses to expected lines of attacks, including the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attacks, scandal over her private email, even her husband’s infidelities, according to several people familiar with her debate preparation.
She is also engaging in mock debates – though not every day – with a small group, perhaps a half-dozen people, including stand-ins for her opponent and the moderator, aides say. Some sessions might be shorter, others the full 90 minutes. The room has likely been set up to look, sound and feel like the debate venue and the proceeding is being videotaped, according to those who have helped other candidates prepare for debates.
“It’s like a rehearsal for a stage play, where you start out sitting around a table in casual clothes, but move into the dress rehearsal with a set,” said Dan Gerstein, who worked for former Sen. Joe Lieberman when he ran for president and vice president.
Clinton’s husband may pop in the room on occasion, but it’s unlikely he’s there most of the time, so as not to distract her or lead her advisers to speak less freely. Clinton stayed out of the room when her husband prepared for his presidential debates in 1992 and 1996 except to urge him to take a break, those who worked for him say.
The debate in New York, which could attract an astonishing 100 million viewers, comes as the race has tightened, with polls now showing that Clinton’s large lead has dwindled.
I am going to do my very best to communicate as clearly and fearlessly as I can in the face of the insults and the attacks and the bullying and the bigotry that we have seen coming from my opponent. . . . I can take that kind of stuff. I have been at this. I understand it is a contact sport.
Hillary Clinton, on Steve Harvey Radio show
While other candidates including her husband and Barack Obama went to secluded sites far from the distractions of home to get ready for debates, Clinton this week hunkered down at her home in Chappaqua, New York.
She is relying on the same team that Obama used and she used during the Democratic primaries: Ron Klain, a onetime chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, and lawyer Karen Dunn.
They are aided by campaign Chairman John Podesta, policy adviser Jake Sullivan, communications director Jennifer Palmieri, pollster and top strategist Joel Benenson and lawyer Robert Barnett, who is also helping Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine, in his debate prep. The campaign has declined to say who is playing Trump in mock debates.