How Harris, Trump have been preparing for debate
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Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump have taken different approaches to preparing for their first face-to-face at Tuesday's presidential debate in Philadelphia.
The big picture: Harris and her team have been studying the roughly half-dozen televised presidential debates her opponent has participated in. Trump's approach has been less formal, with those close to him avoiding the word "preparation," CNN reported.
- It's Harris' first presidential debate as a party's nominee, while it's Trump's 7th.
Zoom in: Harris has been camped out in Pittsburgh since Thursday at the Omni William Penn Hotel for a "debate camp" that includes hours of practice runs, according to the Washington Post.
- The hotel has "received every seated president since Theodore Roosevelt," according to the Historic Hotels of America, of which it's a member.
She prepared with a mock debate studio layout and Trump stand-in to dish out attacks and offensive comments, per the Post.
- Harris has also spoken to both President Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to get pointers about their experiences debating Trump, per CNN.
Meanwhile, Trump has been at his New Jersey golf club, holding "policy sessions" to focus on his messaging, rather than rehearsing, per the Post.
- He's done about a half-dozen such sessions over the past few weeks and has studied Harris' policy pitches from her initial, short-lived 2020 presidential run.
- The former president has also been preparing to respond to attacks about his character, per the Post.
- Representatives for the Harris campaign did not respond to Axios' request for comment. Representatives for Trump's campaign referred a request for comment to an earlier press call.
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