In this week’s edition of the Observer Newsletter – Special American Elections, journalist João de Almeida Dias brings us the history of presidential debates in the United States and analyzes what is at stake.

This Tuesday at 9 p.m. in Washington, D.C. (in Lisbon, it’s 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday), Donald Trump and Joe Biden face off for the first time on a debate stage in the auditorium of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. This is the first of three debates between the two candidates for the US Presidency. The vice presidential candidates – Mike Pence and Kamala Harris – face off on October 7.

The history of presidential candidates is closely linked to the history of debates between the main candidates. Four years ago we saw Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, but also the story of J.F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, or of candidates like Michael Dukakis and Gerald Ford, was greatly influenced by their performance in these debates.

Today’s debate will be moderated by Fox News journalist Chris Wallace and can be seen on Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, Telemundo, Univision and CSPAN.

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