| 2020 POLITICS & CAMPAIGNS: Hours after the chaotic brawl between President Trump and Joe Biden on Tuesday night, described by many as the worst debate in the history of televised presidential face-offs, Trump was defending his performance and the organizers promised format changes before the two candidates share a stage again on Oct. 15 and Oct. 22. The president — fielding criticism on Wednesday about his refusal Tuesday to disavow white supremacists and the Proud Boys group — said, “I don't know who Proud Boys are, but whoever they are, they need to stand down and let law enforcement do their work." Politico: Republicans to Trump: Condemn white supremacy now. The Washington Post and The New York Times: Who are the far-right Proud Boys? The Hill: Biden, while campaigning, called Trump’s debate conduct a “national embarrassment.” Even Republicans who are familiar with Trump’s theatrical style and taste for the political jugular worried on Wednesday that the president, currently running behind in key swing states according to numerous polls, may have forfeited an opening to reset the campaign in a way that would broaden support beyond his loyal base (The Hill). “He blew it,” Amy Koch, a Republican and the former majority leader in the Minnesota state Senate, said about Trump’s debate style. “He did nothing to improve his standing with independents, women or suburban voters. In fact, he may have gone backwards with disaffected Republicans. He needed a strong performance and the opportunity was there and it was all lined up for him to knock it out of the park and he just whiffed.” After 90 minutes of name-calling, interruptions and viciously personal jabs, Trump attracted a lion’s share of blame for a Cleveland debate that offered voters too much heat and a shortage of light in the final stretch before Election Day. NBC News: Trump’s missed cues: When the president attacked Biden for backing the 1994 crime bill, he was supposed to point to Alice Johnson, 65, in the audience and demand that Biden apologize to the grandmother who spent more than two decades in prison on a nonviolent drug charge before Trump commuted her sentence and then pardoned her. Instead, Trump pivoted to his polling numbers among African American voters. > Enforcing the debate rules: "Last night’s debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues," the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) said in a statement. "The CPD will be carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly" (NBC News and The Hill). The commission, which has signed agreements with the Trump and Biden campaigns describing the rules, time limits and role of the journalist moderators during the debates, is searching for new discipline it can impose later this month. One suggestion reportedly under consideration is the ability to cut off the microphone with a rule-breaking candidate. Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh disagreed with the debate commission, warning in a statement that it "shouldn’t be moving the goalposts and changing the rules in the middle of the game." On Tuesday night, the president initially defended his performance and criticized moderator Chris Wallace of “Fox News Sunday.” “Chris had a tough night. Two on one was not surprising, but fun,” Trump tweeted. “Many important points made, like throwing Bernie [Sanders], AOC PLUS 3, and the rest, to the wolves! Radical Left is dumping Sleepy Joe. Zero Democrat enthusiasm, WEAK Leadership!” During an interview with The New York Times, Wallace, a debate veteran and seasoned broadcast journalist, said he was initially “reluctant” to step in between Trump and Biden. “I never dreamt that it would go off the tracks the way it did,” he said. The Los Angeles Times reported that after the debate, Biden came up to Wallace and whispered in his ear: “I bet you didn’t think you were signing up for a boxing match.” Trump nodded to Wallace but said nothing to the moderator before exiting the stage. Biden on Wednesday suggested some new guardrails are needed for two more debates scheduled this month, but he did not detail any recommendations. "I just hope there's a way in which the debate commission can control the ability of us to answer the question without interruption,” the former vice president told reporters. “I'm not going to speculate on what happens in the second or third debate." The Hill: On Capitol Hill, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the GOP presidential nominee in 2012, also described Trump’s performance as an “embarrassment.” His Republican colleagues offered reporters other adjectives, including “raucous,” “raw,” “rough” and “a shitshow.” The Hill: Trump crowd chants 'lock her up' about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) as the president warns of refugees in Minnesota. George F. Will, The Washington Post columnist: For the sake of the country, cancel the remaining debates. Niall Stanage: The Memo: “Trump fatigue” spells trouble for president. STAT News: During the debate, Trump said his policies made insulin “so cheap, it’s like water.” For most people, it costs just as much as before. And it’s expensive (Mother Jones). Debate viewership: By almost any measure, the audience for Tuesday’s debate (or at least parts of the evening) was massive. More than 73 million people watched across 16 channels, according to Nielsen (CNN). 
© Getty Images > Economy: The final pre-Election Day jobs report is set to arrive on Friday, giving voters one last look at the state of the coronavirus-riddled economy before they head to the polls in the coming weeks. As The Hill’s Sylvan Lane notes, record-low unemployment was Trump's strongest argument for reelection heading into 2020, but the blow of the pandemic has complicated the president's ability to sell his economic record. The Associated Press: Unemployment marches higher in Europe amid pandemic. The Hill: Postcards become unlikely tool in effort to oust Trump. > Ad wars: The Biden campaign and Democratic outside groups are preparing an advertising onslaught to bury on the airwaves Trump in the coming weeks. Biden’s allies are outspending Trump in all but a small handful of swing states and key markets — in some cases by tens of millions of dollars. Over the next five weeks across 18 swing states, the Biden campaign alone has reserved nearly a quarter billion dollars in ads, while Democratic outside groups have secured $112 million in their own airtime. The Trump campaign, which spent heavily on advertising earlier in the year, is set to spend far less, having reserved $130 million in airtime in 13 states. Outside Republican groups have reserved $39 million in airtime. Combined, groups backing Biden have reserved $360 million in late television, while Trump and GOP outside groups have reserved $170 million in airtime — less than half (The Hill). 
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