Debate planners vow less chaos at next Trump-Biden face-off
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[October 01, 2020]
By Jarrett Renshaw and Alexandra Alper
JOHNSTOWN, PA., /DULUTH, MN (Reuters) -
U.S. presidential debate organizers vowed on Wednesday to change the
rules to rein in unruly behavior after President Donald Trump repeatedly
interrupted rival Joe Biden and the moderator in the candidates'
taunt-filled initial prime-time encounter.
Biden suggested a mute button might help and Trump complained the
Commission on Presidential Debates was siding with the Democrats in the
aftermath of Tuesday's debate in Cleveland.
The 90-minute face-off triggered widespread criticism of Trump and, to a
lesser extent, Biden. The Republican president repeatedly bullied Biden
and questioned his intelligence, while the Democratic nominee called
Trump a racist, a liar and the worst president ever.
Biden's campaign raised nearly $10 million during the debate, a campaign
aide said, adding to the Democrat's financial advantage with five weeks
to go until the Nov. 3 election.
The former vice president has held a modest but steady lead in national
voter surveys for months, although opinion polls in the battleground
states that traditionally decide elections show a closer contest.
Biden went on a day-long whistle-stop train tour through two tops
critical to his election, Ohio and Pennsylvania, concluding the day in
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with remarks attacking Trump for his handling
of the coronavirus pandemic.
In Alliance, Ohio, Biden urged Americans to vote for him in large
numbers to eliminate any possibility of Trump trying to stay in the
White House if he lost the election.
Trump did not commit at the debate to accepting the election result,
reasserting unfounded complaints that an increase in mail-in ballots
because of the coronavirus pandemic would lead to widespread voting
fraud.
"The president will step down. The American people will not stand for
it. No agency would stand for that happening," Biden said on a campaign
stop.
Also on Wednesday, Trump attempted to distance himself from the
right-wing "Proud Boys" group after declining to denounce white
supremacists during the debate.
"I don't know who the Proud Boys are. I mean, you’ll have to give me a
definition, because I really don’t know who they are. I can only say
they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work," he told
reporters at the White House.
The Proud Boys describes itself as a club of “Western chauvinists” but
has been categorized as a hate group by the nonprofit Southern Poverty
Law Center.
TURNING OFF THE MICROPHONE?
The debates commission said it would adopt changes to allow for a "more
orderly discussion," with the next debate scheduled for Oct. 15 in
Miami. There was immediate speculation that this could include a mute
button to limit interruptions.
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President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden
participate in their first 2020 presidential campaign debate held on
the campus of the Cleveland Clinic at Case Western Reserve
University in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., September 29, 2020. Morry
Gash/Pool via REUTERS
The Trump campaign accused the organization of "moving the goalposts
and changing the rules in the middle of the game."
Trump also was critical of the debate's moderator, Fox News anchor
Chris Wallace, who spent much of the debate trying to restore order.
"Chris had a tough night," Trump posted on Wednesday morning on
Twitter, calling the debate a "two on one" fight.
"Never forget they are coming after me because I am fighting for
you," Trump told thousands of cheering supporters at a rally outside
an airport hangar in Duluth, Minnesota.
Biden said on Wednesday he hoped organizers of future debates would
be able to turn off the microphone of the candidate who is not
speaking.
"It was a national embarrassment," Biden said of the debate and
Trump's performance. "I am not going to speculate what happens at
the second or third debate."
The debate commission defended Wallace, thanking him "for the
professionalism and skill he brought to last night's debate" and
promising "additional tools to maintain order."
The chaotic debate appeared unlikely to significantly alter the
campaign's dynamics.
An estimated 73.1 million people tuned in to the chaotic face-off on
Tuesday night across 16 networks, down from the 84 million who
watched the first debate between Trump and Democratic rival Hillary
Clinton in 2016.
Biden, 77, was on a train tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania, both
"Rust Belt" battleground states. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll of
Pennsylvania gave Biden a slight advantage there.
Trump, 74, was in Minnesota – one of the few states his campaign is
targeting that voted Democratic in 2016 – for a fundraiser before a
Wednesday evening rally in Duluth.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Ohio, Alexandra Alper in Minnesota,
Joseph Ax in Princeton, New Jersey, and Susan Heavey, David Morgan
and Lisa Lambert in Washington; Writing by Alistair Bell and Steve
Holland; Editing by Scott Malone, Howard Goller and Peter Cooney)
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