The stage is set for the first TV debate in the race for the White House, with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump squaring off for 90 minutes in Long Island on Monday night.
The debate will cover three broad topics: America's Direction, Achieving Prosperity, and Securing the United States.
It's the first of three TV debates between now and Election Day on November 8th, and with polls tightening the broadcasts could be crucial in determining who wins the keys to the Oval Office.
Our US Correspondent Simon Marks is at the debate site in New York.
IN: "TV debates have….."
OUT: SOC
DUR: 3:04
AIR: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0925previewpkg-sm-air.mp3
ARN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0925previewpkg-sm-arn.mp3
938 LIVE: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0925previewpkg-sm-938.mp3
FM4: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0925previewpkg-sm-fm4.mp3
ICRT: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0925previewpkg-sm-icrt.mp3
NIGERIA: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0925previewpkg-sm-von.mp3
RNZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0925previewpkg-sm-rnz.mp3
VATICAN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0925previewpkg-sm-vat.mp3
ZIZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0925previewpkg-sm-ziz.mp3
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0925previewpkg-sm-generic.mp3
TV debates have a long tradition in US Presidential elections.
But we are never likely to have witnessed anything quite like the broadcast that will take place here in a few hours time.
Hillary Clinton….who spent the weekend steeping herself in policy….is confronting not just a political opponent in the form of Donald Trump but a truly pugilistic rival who has made it clear he will be shooting from the hip when the microphones go live.
One of her top advisers, John Podesta, says Mr. Trump's propensity to make things up on-the-hoof complicates Mrs. Clinton's task here.
AXX
There has been a big debate about the debate.
Should the moderator, NBC news anchor Lester Holt, play the role of fact-checker if-and-when either candidate strays from the truth?
The Commission on Presidential Debates which runs these contests says that's an impossible task because of the encyclopedic knowledge it would require….and so the candidates themselves are expected to act as each other's fact checkers.
Kellyanne Conway of the Trump campaign says her man will spend the night focused on trying to reach the all-important undecided voters who could swing the outcome of the election.
AXX
The Trump team is buoyed by recent opinion polls that show him narrowing Mrs. Clinton's national lead between around two and four per cent….and polls that show him closing the gap in several of the all-important battleground states where the election will ultimately be won or lost.
Democrats continue to exude confidence about the outcome of the race….but they are confounded by the fact that their candidate is NOT streaks ahead of a man they insist is uniquely disqualified to hold the nation's top office.
There are few better observers of US politics than John Meacham, the former editor of Newsweek…now the executive editor of Random House.
AXX
It's believed 100 million pairs of eyes will be on the debate tonight which will be seen on scores of television stations here in the United States and also of course will stream online.
The format: 90 minutes of uninterrupted conversation divided into six fifteen minute segments.
The stakes….as they could possibly be, which is why both political parties have massive spin operations here ready to claim their candidate the winner.
SOC