Washington
CNN
 — 

When Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris stroll onstage on the Nationwide Structure Heart in Philadelphia subsequent week, will probably be their first in-person encounter — a second every has been mulling as they put together with advisers for the high-stakes second.

For Harris, a stand-in for the previous president — carrying his signature purple tie — has helped her visualize the scene forward of time. Trump, in the meantime, has eschewed a sparring associate within the function of Harris, selecting as a substitute to duplicate the casual “coverage time” that fashioned his preparation forward of June’s debate with President Joe Biden.

That debate resulted in catastrophe for the incumbent president, who ended his reelection bid three weeks later and thrust the presidential race into uncharted waters. Sources near Trump insist not a lot had modified by way of how he’ll put together for upcoming debate, regardless of a swap on the high of the Democratic ticket. One distinction: the enlisting of one of many vp’s ex-rivals, Tulsi Gabbard, the previous consultant from Hawaii who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020 in a crowded subject that additionally included Harris.

The addition of Gabbard is especially notable given the tense exchanges she had with the vp throughout their 2020 race that left Harris rattled.

Whether or not Trump’s method with a brand new, youthful candidate will show as efficient stays an open query. Harris’ group, for its half, views her as an underdog given Trump’s prolonged expertise on the whole election debates — this will likely be his seventh in whole, greater than any candidate in historical past.

Within the week forward of the Tuesday face-off, Trump has a comparatively gentle marketing campaign schedule and can shuttle between his Bedminster and Mar-a-Lago resorts, in addition to Trump Tower in Manhattan, the place advisers mentioned he has inbuilt “coverage time” on his schedule

Allies have suggested Trump to hammer the identical problems with inflation and immigration, with a objective of attempting to make Harris the incumbent on this race. A lot of these near Trump consider their greatest guess on profitable in November is linking Harris to a few of Biden’s extra unpopular areas, notably the financial system and immigration, the place polls confirmed Trump held a transparent benefit towards Biden amongst voters and the place Harris has now closed the hole.

Trump’s group has been sketching out potential responses on reproductive rights with the expectation Harris will make {that a} focus in the course of the debate.

The Harris and Trump campaigns stay in discussions in regards to the debate guidelines, in response to sources, specifically whether or not microphones will likely be muted when a candidate isn’t talking. The Harris marketing campaign has been pushing for microphones to stay on at some stage in the talk, whereas the Trump marketing campaign needs them turned off whereas the opposite candidate is talking, in keeping with the foundations on the CNN-hosted debate in June. The Trump marketing campaign has insisted the matter is settled.

Even earlier than Biden dropped out and Harris emerged because the Democratic standard-bearer, the vp had begun placing collectively a debate preparation group forward of her anticipated showdown with Trump’s operating mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Her elevation to Democratic nominee added urgency to the preparations, with a brand new opponent to recreation out and the stakes exponentially increased.

Over the previous month, Harris has engaged in debate prep periods with a small group of advisers, led by Rohini Kosoglu, a high coverage adviser, and Karen Dunn, a longtime Democratic debate specialist. Others concerned in preparation periods embody Harris’ White Home chief of workers, Lorraine Voles; her marketing campaign chief of workers, Sheila Nix; and Sean Clegg, a veteran strategist.

The preparations have included mock debate periods, with the function of Trump performed by Philippe Reines, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton who stood in for Trump throughout Clinton’s personal debate prep in 2016.

One benefit Harris has benefited from is recommendation from the one two Democrats to have confronted off towards Trump on a debate stage: Biden and Clinton. Harris maintains an in depth relationship with each, and every has provided their counsel since she grew to become the nominee.

Nonetheless, even a few of Harris’s high supporters have cautioned towards overconfidence heading into the showdown. In an interview on CNN this week, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker mentioned underestimating Trump could be a mistake, pointing to debates the Republican gained towards Biden and Clinton.

“We shouldn’t be pondering that one way or the other that Kamala Harris has a higher means to win a debate than Donald Trump,” he mentioned. “They’re going to come back in as important rivals with very, very completely different factors of view. And I feel getting these factors of view throughout and ensuring that you just’re not getting, you already know, flummoxed, frankly, by Donald Trump will likely be an essential factor for Kamala Harris.”

These round Trump are inclined to keep away from utilizing the phrase “preparation” relating to the talk. To date, nobody is predicted to take a seat in for Harris, simply as nobody performed Biden forward of the June debate.

In some periods, aides have acted as moderators, however as a rule, these conversations function briefings with occasional questioning.

Amongst these serving to with the coverage assessment are senior advisers Jason Miller and Vince Haley, in addition to Stephen Miller.

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who helped forward of Trump’s debate with Biden, can also be anticipated to play a task on this spherical of preparation.

Whereas Trump’s group is hoping to imitate the outcomes of the primary debate towards Biden, some allies of the previous president acknowledge that Harris is a a lot completely different debater than the sitting president. Allies even have expressed concern over the tone Trump will strike with Harris, noting that the previous president’s typically aggressive demeanor might play otherwise with a lady.

Sources say Harris is keenly conscious of the method Trump might tackle the stage.

“She’s very conscious of who he’s and what he’s going to carry,” one supply near the marketing campaign instructed CNN, including: “She has a plan, she has a imaginative and prescient, she’s going to place it ahead.”

The race itself has additionally basically modified. In a latest ABC Information/Ipsos ballot, 46% of probably voters seen Harris favorably versus 43% unfavorably. Trump’s favorability rankings have been a dismal 33% to 58%.

Tuesday’s debate stage would be the closest Harris and Trump could have ever come to one another over the course of their overlapping careers. The one time they’ve beforehand been in the identical room was contained in the Home chamber throughout Trump’s State of the Union addresses; Trump skipped the inauguration when Harris was sworn in as vp.

Relying on how the night time goes, it is also their final. Neither has dedicated to a second debate.

Coming face-to-face is a second Harris has been interested by for a number of weeks as she scales up her marketing campaign effort and considers the assaults her rival might deploy. As Harris allies brace for private broadsides from Trump, their message to the Democratic candidate: Don’t get roped in.

“Put together her for Donald Trump to stroll in there sizzling and put together to assault and get her off steadiness,” mentioned Donna Brazile, an in depth Harris ally who additionally managed Al Gore’s 2000 marketing campaign, citing the talk between Trump and Clinton in 2016.

“It is a candidate and former president who is aware of command a stage. That’s his energy,” Brazile mentioned. “Don’t attempt to compete with somebody who’s a grasp.”

As a substitute, allies like Brazile have underscored the necessity to keep on message.

“In these environments, there needs to be an argument, a thesis, a message they need to talk about Trump, after which they’ll use the proof to show that. That is the place her prosecutorial chops come into play,” one former Harris adviser instructed CNN.

“A part of the problem in debate prep is to push her on issues that may make her uncomfortable in order that she gained’t have heard these issues for the primary time onstage,” the previous adviser mentioned, including that the vp has develop into extra acquainted with private assaults amid GOP criticism within the final three years.

One of many standout moments that allies typically level to is her 2020 debate towards then-Vice President Mike Pence. Early on within the debate, as Harris rebutted the Trump administration’s assertion that its disastrously gradual response to the Covid-19 pandemic was out of a need to maintain Individuals calm, Pence tried to chop her off.

“Mr. Vice President, I’m talking,” Harris mentioned.

Harris deliberately pared again her journey main as much as the upcoming presidential debate to dedicate time to preparation, sources instructed CNN. She is going to journey to Pittsburgh on Thursday to organize together with her group, in response to two sources acquainted with the planning, and can keep for a number of nights till the talk Tuesday.

It’s the second time the vp will go to the town this week after campaigning with Biden on Labor Day. She plans to make group stops whereas she’s in Pittsburgh and keep on the marketing campaign path in a important battleground state, in response to one of many sources.

It’s a barely completely different method than Biden took forward of his sole, disastrous debate in June. He retreated to Camp David in Maryland, with none public appearances within the week or so forward of the talk.

Harris’s method extra resembles then-President Barack Obama, who in 2012 took his “debate camp” to resorts exterior Las Vegas and in Williamsburg, Virginia.