Joe Biden and Donald Trump both spent the weekend sharpening their lines in preparation for their first 2024 debate – in very different ways.
Mr. Biden hunkered down with aides at the Camp David presidential retreat, engaging in mock debates.
Donald Trump spent Saturday on the campaign trail, publicly workshopping attack lines and tactics.
Thursday’s CNN-hosted debate will mark the third time – though the first in this election cycle – that the Democrat and Republican candidates face off on stage. They ran against each other in 2020 and debated twice that year.
The Democratic president is preparing with Ron Klain, his former chief of staff, who also helped him get ready for his State of the Union speech in March. On Sunday, the Biden campaign announced plans to host hundreds of watch parties and events in battleground states to mark the upcoming debate.
Along with 1,600 events, the campaign plans to run a new batch of TV and digital advertisements to connect with voters. The events will target groups crucial to Mr. Biden’s re-election, including members of the LGBT community and college students.
For the debate itself, Mr. Biden’s campaign co-chair hinted on Sunday that one strategy will be to attack the Republican rival on his legal troubles and character.
“It really doesn’t matter how Donald Trump shows up if he comes in unhinged, like he is most of the time, or he sits there and is quiet,” Mitch Landrieu told NBC. Mr. Landrieu said people will know that Trump is a “convicted felon” – referring to Trump’s recent conviction in the New York hush-money trial – who has been found to have “defamed somebody, sexually abused somebody” – referring to his defeat in a civil defamation lawsuit brought against him by writer E. Jean Carroll.
Meanwhile, the Republican has forgone traditional debate preparations and has instead been holding a series of meetings in recent weeks with US senators and advisors.
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