President Biden’s campaign is planning a week of events and promotions leading up to Thursday’s first 2024 presidential debate.
Biden is scheduled to go head-to-head with former President Trump in the debate, which will mark the first time the two candidates have debated each other since the 2020 campaign.
The Biden-Harris campaign sent out a memo Sunday detailing what events and advertising voters can expect from the campaign in the coming days.
“With the debate just days away, the Biden-Harris campaign is turning a magnifying glass on this choice this week as Democrats in Atlanta and across the country organize for this moment,” Michael Tyler, communications director for the Biden-Harris campaign, said in the memo.
The debate will be hosted by CNN in Atlanta and moderated by the network’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, and will begin at 9 p.m. and last 90 minutes.
The campaign plans more than 1,600 events this week in battleground states, including community events, trainings and door-to-door canvassing, according to the memo, and also plans to host more than 300 debate viewing parties on Thursday night.
The campaign is also rolling out new TV, digital and radio ads leading up to the debate that “focus on reproductive health care, a pro-middle class economy and Trump’s threat to our democracy,” according to the memo.
They also plan to set up bases in Atlanta and Wilmington, Delaware, on debate night to “cover key moments and counter Donald Trump’s lies in real time.”
While Biden has been holed up at Camp David in recent days preparing for the debate, Trump has taken a less traditional approach to debate prep: Instead of holding mock debates, Trump is preparing for the debate by meeting with lawmakers to discuss what policy issues are likely to come up.
President Trump and his supporters are also prepared to dismiss as a farce any possibility that Biden might perform well in the debate. They suggest, without evidence, that if Biden does well in the debate, it will be because of some unknown substance the president has taken.
