QPORIT

Much less important:

5a - Whether you told the truth accurately (note: lying on purpose is deemed less serious than making an unintentional serious error), and/or

5b - how well you called out false statements by the other person.

6            6 - (and more or less last) - Whether you demonstrated or exhibited the experience, knowledge and plans to be a successful President, who could and would run the government well.

This is, by the way, a strange list of priorities, which read from bottom to top as a much better way to evaluate a candidate for the Presidency.

In the recent debate between Biden and Trump, if you analyze the text of the answers, Biden showed greater Presidential abilities. He was savaged by makeup that was too pale, camera angles that showed his head smaller than Trump’s on the screen, and that often caught him looking down or away from  the camera and not directly at it; and a mic that needed higher volume amplification. Remnants of Biden’s lifelong stuttering, on his attempts to answer questions with a complex and thoughtful analysis, was not a match for Trump’s high volume, high velocity torrent of insults and lies, ignoring the questions that were asked.

Several things have happened in past debates that should be noted and combatted.

First, as suggested above, it is essential that Kamala’s team make sure her mic is loud, her tone rich, her hair and makeup is on point, her lighting is good, and the producer who selects the camera shots shows her looking good. She should usually be looking at the camera, the questioner, or at Trump; and the camera shot should show that.

By the way, in past debates. Trump has moved around a lot; and has talked loudly and with such a barrage of lies, that responding concisely – or at all! – becomes difficult.  It is really a positive, I think, that the mic is muted when it is not a person’s time to speak. It could be impossible for Kamala to speak if Trump simply interrupted her every time she tried to speak. Since it is on-brand for T, it might really not matter how vile that is.

Kamala must come out looking like a Presidential winner; and leave looking like a Debate And Presidential winner.

In debates in the past, Trump has stated that he would not accept the results of the election; that he believes his opponent should be jailed. He also, when asked to condemn violent groups, instead told them to “stand by”. If he says anything like this, Kamala must be ready to deliver a “killer” response.

Trump lies. Too often to be corrected completely.  Kamala must have a good response to Trump’s lies. Pete Buttigieg has been very effective on Fox, simply overwhelming the question with facts. Here, the time constraints must be taken into account, in preparing a response in advance.

Trump has several favorite issues: the economy; the border; the Afghanistan withdrawal. Trump is actually very vulnerable on each of these issues, Kamala’s response must be definitive.

With some help from a political comedian, T’s frequent habit of using childish, lazy, extremal debating cliches, like “everybody knows…” “the worst/greatest in American history… “ “embarrassing… ” , could be destroyed and turned into a source of ridicule forever.

The violence, the threats to the election process, the cultivation of domestic terrorists, fascists and neo-Nazis, the support for Dictators,  and for a Day One Dictatorship, and the detailed, terrible plans laid out in Project 2025, must be called out quickly and demolished in a way that resonates.  I believe that “dangerous” and “delusional” and “dishonest” and “disloyal” and “unfit to be Commander in Chief” and even unAmerican, can be added to “weird” as a concise characterization of Trump’s threat to the country.

Of course, in the event that the moderators have “control” of the event, and they really try to get important insights and answers on policy, it is vital to have the best sounding and the most logical answers for the basic policy questions.

Kamala’s current best issues are well known, and they veer toward the issues that most middle-class households find important. That is the base of her support, and she must cement that.

In order for important policies to become the law of the land, it is necessary for support in both houses of Congress.  To prevent states from sabotaging some policies where states can usurp control of the policy, it is also important to gain control of state governments.  Kamala should try to teach out and emphasize the importance of electing people at every level of government who will work for policies for the people and for the country. With more and more Republicans disgusted by Trump, and by the RINOs who have taken control of their party, reaching out to Republicans, while attacking the RINO’s for their irresponsible fealty to Trump’s fascist proclivities, is very logical and very important.

And, to tap into support from the media, the rich, young men, teachers, scientists, and technicians, (and everyone else!)  I believe that it would be extremely helpful for Kamala to bring, to the debate, something new and powerful, and specific, to her vision of the future of technology -- that it must be safe, and it must be available to every American in every corner of the county. The future is coming. It is coming exponentially faster and faster, and Americans must know that she will accelerate progress, while making sure, absolutely sure, that its hazards are controlled, and its benefits are shared by all Americans.