Welcome to McClatchy’s Voter Survival Guide, an interactive presentation of daily events from one of the strangest presidential campaigns in modern history.
The first 25 minutes of Wednesday night’s debate was a bit surprising in an election season full of personal attacks as both candidates clashed on substantive policy issues such as the Supreme Court, abortion and guns.
Then came an exchange about Russian president Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump switched from calm and collected to angry and rattled.
After Trump stated why Putin would prefer Trump over Hillary Clinton as president, Clinton made a jab and Trump got mad.
“Well, that's because he'd rather have a puppet as president of the United States,” Clinton said.
“No puppet. No puppet,” Trump said.
“And it's pretty clear...,” Clinton said.
“You're the puppet!” Trump exclaimed. “No, you’re the puppet.”
From that point on, Trump started grabbing his microphone and frequently interrupted Clinton and moderator Chris Wallace.
Then came the two big moments later in the debate, where Trump refused to accept the results of the election and where he described Clinton as a “nasty woman.”
The pundits and voters are chalking up another debate win for Clinton, bad news for a Trump campaign that is sputtering and teetering on losing in a landslide on November 8.
The polls open nationally in 18 days. Let’s get started.
Putin exchange riles up Trump
Clinton clearly had a plan during the final debate to poke Trump with various accusations, and her Putin comments touched a nerve.
You’re the puppet!
Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton on Vladimir Putin
She initially brought up Putin herself, during an exchange on immigration, and even though Trump rightly pointed out she was pivoting away from the issue, she succeeded in getting under his skin.