September 26, 2016 | No Comments
The massive audience expected for the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is “a gift,” the former secretary of state’s communications director Jennifer Palmieri said Monday evening, because it affords the Democratic nominee a chance to “break through with her positive message.”
Palmieri admitted that Trump’s controversial candidacy is likely playing the biggest role in drawing so many eyeballs to the debate, scheduled for Monday night at New York’s Hofstra University. That bombast could prompt millions of Americans to watch the two candidates square off and could end up benefiting Clinton, she said.
“The gift of the debate for us and the gift of running against somebody as controversial as Trump is the interest in the debate, so there’s 100 million people watching,” Palmieri told Chuck Todd on MSNBC’s “MTP Daily.” “It’s 100 million people we’re going to be in front of. It’s more than the convention. It is a gift that no other presidential candidate has gotten.”
“It’s bigger than most debates because of that audience. And so we see that as a gift. And so I think the pregame, the post-game, the press coverage, it has an impact but more so than any other debate, what is really going to matter is the actual audience that’s watching,” she continued. “And for us in this cycle, because we are running against somebody like Trump, and it’s hard to break through. We fully admit this, our reality is it’s hard for Hillary to break through with her positive message.”