3 things Clinton, Trump must do in Monday’s debate

When Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump meet Monday night in the first of three presidential debates, each will need to do specific things to win the night and, possibly, the presidency.

The debate is Clinton’s chance to turn the page on weeks during which Trump has eaten much of the polling lead she built after the Democratic convention. Clinton’s camp has been counting on her policy knowledge and debate experience to help her expose Trump’s weaknesses, but the Democrat also comes in facing higher expectations than Trump.

Trump has been accused of lacking policy gravitas and self-restraint. Those perceived weaknesses could be exposed in the debate, where candidates will be grilled on their familiarity with issues foreign and domestic, and be expected to stay composed under rhetorical assault from their opponent. Trump has the advantage, however, of low expectations: At several turns in his campaign, even modest pivots away from his bombastic style were hailed as pivots to professionalism. Similar self-restraint Monday night — provided he still hits the high notes his supporters are expected — could help him clear the low bar again.

The topics for the debate, as set by the Presidential Debate Commission, are: “America’s direction,” “achieving prosperity,” and “securing America.” However, the topics are subject to change based on news developments.

The debate will be divided into six segments of 15 minutes each. Each segment will start with a question from moderator Lester Holt, after which each candidates will have two minutes for an initial response and then will be allowed to respond to each other.

A look at what the two major-party candidates need to do:

Hillary Clinton

Tell voters why they should vote for her Much of Clinton’s campaign has aimed at disqualifying Trump. He’s an anti-woman, anti-immigrant racist. His ignorance of issues is dangerous. He cares only about Trump. That effort has succeeded, according to polling. A majority of likely voters said Trump is not qualified to be president. But Clinton needs to make a case to elect her. Sure, she has a mind-numbing raft of issue papers on topics, from A to Z. But she needs to present a clear case – 1, 2, 3 – explaining how a Clinton Administration would be more than a third term of Barack Obama, and would improve life for average Americans, in particular, young voters.

Convince enough voters she is trustworthy For 30 years, there has been smoke surrounding the Clintons. Whitewater. Bill’s womanizing. Benghazi. Emails. The common denominator? The Clintons do not think the normal rules of behavior, of truthfulness, apply to them, critics claim. Hillary Clinton needs to convince enough voters that she has has learned from her errors and can be trusted to be an honest-broker leader of the entire nation.

Show some warmth For all his flaws, Bill Clinton was the best retail politician of his time. Hillary Clinton is more reserved. Unlike her husband, she does not like the stage. Her speeches can come across as the wooden recitations of a relentlessly ambitious technocrat. Those who know Clinton personally insist she is warm and caring. Convincing U.S. voters that she is both could seal her victory in November.

Donald Trump

Appear presidential Trump’s insults fire up his base, but they scare off the moderate independents, women and college-educated voters that he needs to win. Trump has a chance to win over those voters over Monday. The bar is low. Don’t insult. Don’t ad lib. Don’t praise Putin. The billionaire businessman needs to prove he can stick to his script and make the case that he could be trusted to perform soberly the duties of president.

Press the case that he is change Trump needs to convince voters that electing Clinton would mean eight more years of Obama. Eight more years of a struggling economy. Eight more years of foreign bumbling. Eight more years of cool, smarter-than-you professorial disdain for the politics required to get things done.

Convince voters to take a flier Voters don’t know what Trump would do if elected president. He might not either. But he needs to convince voters that, even though they are wary of his outsized New York persona and ego, things are so bad that they should take a chance on him, promising he will get things done – whether it is protecting Americans from terrorism, protecting their jobs or re-invigorating a stagnant American Dream.

This story was originally published September 25, 2016 at 6:33 PM.