DENVER — Thursday's presidential debate will be full of firsts, with the potential to reshape the race between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Never before in the modern era have two presumptive nominees met on the debate stage so early in the general election season. Never before have two White House contenders faced off at such advanced ages, with widespread questions about their readiness.
And never before has a general election debate participant been saddled with a felony conviction. The debate-stage meeting comes just two weeks before Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on 34 felony counts in his New York hush money trial.
The candidates will face a huge national audience that will include many people tuning into their 2020 rematch for the first time and who won't see another debate until September, magnifying each success or mistake.
Biden and Trump will face off Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time -- 7 p.m. Mountain Time -- inside a CNN studio in Atlanta. The debate is expected to last about 90 minutes.
9NEWS will stream the presidential debate live on 9NEWS+, YouTube and 9NEWS.com starting at 7 p.m. MT Thursday. The debate will also be broadcast over the air on 9NEWS.
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The ground rules for this debate, the first of two scheduled meetings, are unusual. The candidates are bypassing the traditional structure determined by the Commission on Presidential Debates and instead relying on a set of mutually agreed rules and conditions.
Biden and Trump will debate at a CNN studio in Atlanta with no audience. There will be no opening statements. Each candidate’s microphone will be muted, except when it’s his turn to speak. No props or pre-written notes will be allowed on stage. The candidates will be given only a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.
A coin flip determined that Biden would stand at the podium to the viewer’s right, while Trump would deliver the final closing statement.
The event will be moderated by CNN's Dana Bash and Jake Tapper.
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