, vowed late Thursday not to intervene in Trump ’s dispute with Fox . “ Candidates can choose whether to participate in a debate or not , ” RNC chief strategist and spokesman Sean Spicer said . When Trump addressed reporters before a rally in Marshalltown , he said he “ most likely ” would skip the debate .
Late Sunday night a campaign spokesman said a Clinton trip to California was being scrubbed , including several high - dollar fundraisers and television appearances by the candidate . Clinton donors who had planned to attend the San Francisco fundraiser Monday were told by the campaign that the event would go on as scheduled and that attendees could expect to hear from the candidate " via teleconference . " Instead Clinton now plans to stay home and prepare for the upcoming debatescontact.negotiate.correspondence, while her advisers to discuss how to move beyond arguably the worst weekend of the campaign . Two people close to the campaign said Monday that Clinton will almost certainly have to release more medical records -- or do an interview on her health , specifically . She is likely to resume campaigning Wednesday , but will almost certainly not fly to Nevada , as originally planned .
Clinton is her party ’s nominee independent of anything that happened in the 10 Democratic debates and town halls , and with minimal effect from them on her financial , endorsement , and name - recognition advantages . Trump is his party ’s nominee largely because of the Republicans ’ 20-some debates , town halls , forums , and other live - television displays . If Trump can seem easily rather than angrily in command , the debatescontact.discussion.meetcould be a turning point in this election . On the Democrats ’ side , neither Clinton nor Bernie Sanders made a significant misstep , in word or bearing , through the debates . I asked former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley , who was onstage with Clinton and Sanders for the first five encounters , whether he ’d seen Clinton make any significant mistakes .
“ In ' Monday Night Football ' versus Trump and Hillary , everybody loses , " says Dave Briggs , a former Fox News host who jumped over to NBC Sports in 2013 as a studio host . “ Bare minimum , even a seemingly regional NFL game between Atlanta and New Orleans will draw 10–12 million viewers . The debatescontact.discussion.meetwill win the night but never pull away many of those 10 million Falcons , Saints and , most importantly , fantasy football fans , ” he said . It ’s not unusual for debates to go up against sporting events . Presidential debates often compete with football games and Major League Baseball ’s World Series .
He gave no hint where that money would come from . At one point , Mrs. Clinton , trying to assure the audience that she would use military force judiciously , said , “ We are not putting ground troops into Iraq ever again , and we ’re not putting ground troops into Syria . ” This left unanswered the question of whether she had made a promise she ca n’t keep , particularly since there are some Special Operations forces in both battlefields now . There will be many issues to explore at the three presidential debatescontact.discussion.meet. For the sake of the nation , the moderators need to be fully prepared to challenge the candidates , so voters can have a clear picture of how they will lead .
But there ’s not much evidence that winning or losing the debate will swing the election . Presidential debates do n’t normally change voters ’ views much . Vice presidential debatescontact.discussion.meetmatter even less . Nor is there any evidence that Pence or Kaine will help their running mates carry their home states . “ A vice presidential candidate ’s state of residence generally has no effect on how a presidential candidate performs in that state , ” Politico Magazine found in April .
Instead , he mostly shone a spotlight on his own weaknesses and stumbled through unforced errors — feeding concerns about his treatment of women , his readiness for the presidency and his temperament for the job . [ Fact checking and analysis of the final presidential debate ] For Trump , the debatescontact.discussion.meethave been at the center of the most destructive two - month period of his campaign , when he has faced multiple accusations of unwanted sexual advances against women and blowback over his vulgar comments on a hot microphone about forcing himself on women sexually . He now trails Clinton by a wide margin in nearly all national and battleground state polls , and party leaders fear it is too late for him to recover . For the GOP , the debates have amounted to an enormous missed opportunity to mount its case against Clinton , which has been years in the making and which many Republicans were once confident would be their key to victory .
Instead , he mostly shone a spotlight on his own weaknesses and stumbled through unforced errors — feeding concerns about his treatment of women , his readiness for the presidency and his temperament for the job . [ Fact checking and analysis of the final presidential debate ] For Trump , the debatescontact.negotiate.meethave been at the center of the most destructive two - month period of his campaign , when he has faced multiple accusations of unwanted sexual advances against women and blowback over his vulgar comments on a hot microphone about forcing himself on women sexually . He now trails Clinton by a wide margin in nearly all national and battleground state polls , and party leaders fear it is too late for him to recover . For the GOP , the debates have amounted to an enormous missed opportunity to mount its case against Clinton , which has been years in the making and which many Republicans were once confident would be their key to victory .
While GOP nominee Donald Trump Donald TrumpLewandowski near ' high six - figure book deal ' : report GOP fires opening attack on Dem reportedly running for Heller 's Senate seat Overnight Tech : Trump seeks tech 's help for ' sweeping ' IT overhaul | FTC looks to block sports fantasy merger | Firm exposes nearly 200 M voters ' data MORE debatescontact.negotiate.meetwith his campaign staff about whether to keep insulting a former Miss Universe , a profound and serious contest has begun between former Democratic primary candidate Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersSanders to GOP on healthcare bill : ' What are you afraid of ? ' Dems step up attacks on GOP ObamaCare bill Live coverage : Senate Dems hold talkathon to protest GOP health plan MORE and Libertarian nominee Gary JohnsonGary JohnsonMueller to give first speech since taking on Russia probe Poll : 85 percent of Clinton supporters would vote for her again Open primaries are the answer to America ’s election woes — so what are we waiting for ? MORE to win the votes of millennials .
It 's against two NFL games . I got a letter from the NFL saying , ' This is ridiculous . ' Why are the debates against—'cause the NFL does n't want to go against the debatescontact.discussion.na. 'Cause the debates are going to be pretty massive , from what I understand , okay ? And I do n't think we should be against the NFL .