The first debate is barely over a month away! Here is the advice I would give to the combatants:
- Project strength. Be short, crisp, and unequivocal.
- Don’t worry about answering the questions too directly. Use them as a platform for your talking points.
- Be memorable. Have zingers prepared to use wherever possible.
- Make everything about Trump. That’s what your audience wants to hear.
- Absolutely do not give vague, rambling answers to questions and conclude by referring the audience to the plan on your website. No one is going to read it.
This format works well for Bernie Sanders, who has been through the mill many times, and who is a master of reducing complex problems to battles between the people and Big Something-or-other. For the more honest and intellectual Warren, it is going to be a serious problem. She isn’t going to be able to give the issues the time they really deserve when she’s on stage with nine or ten other people. She is going to have to work that out, somehow, or her dream is going to wither away even before the primaries start.