A
Andy Meek
Guest
- Tonight, Donald Trump and Joe Biden will face off for their first presidential debate ahead of Election Day 2020 in November.
- Tonight's presidential debate will be hosted by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, and topics will include everything from the coronavirus pandemic to the economy as well as "race and violence in our cities."
- The debate is set to begin tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
As someone who's covered multiple presidential debates in the past, allow me to share one of the biggest changes wrought by the coronavirus pandemic which won't be visible during tonight's first clash between President Trump and Joe Biden -- but which will have an effect on the debate, nonetheless.
No more "Spin Alley." What is that, and why does it matter? I'm glad you asked. My first encounter with the perennial president debate phenomenon known as Spin Alley was back in 2008, during the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain on the campus of the University of Mississippi, in Oxford.
Hundreds of reporters, myself included, were crowded into a cavernous, auditorium-like space that had been retrofitted with row after row of workstations. We all sat in front of our own individual monitors, watching a feed of the Obama-McCain debate that was finishing up elsewhere on campus. We were all pecking away on our respective laptops. As I recall, some 10 or 15 minutes before the debate officially wrapped, I saw some political heavyweights moving into position off to the side of the room. Reporters started to crowd former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Obama's campaign manager, David Axelrod, had materialized, huddling with an aide. McCain was still finishing up his final answer for the debate, but reporters by and large had to started to check out and crowd a kind of roped-off area to the side. Camera lights came in. Tape recorders began to be extended in front of gaggles of reporters.
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Covering my first presidential debate was surprisingly boring originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 29 Sep 2020 at 17:16:04 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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