Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, accompanied by and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, speaks during the third presidential debate at University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Wednesday for the third presidential debate. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) </s> Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will make history as they take the stage together for the first time on Monday night (Tuesday morning India time), when they meet in New York for the first of the three presidential debates. It is for the first time in US presidential history that a male and female candidate will be facing off.

Both candidates have a lot at stake and each will have different opportunities and challenges in the debates.

Here are 7 things you need to know, including some you probably didn’t know, about the US presidential debate.

IMAGE: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will face off in their first debate on Tuesday morning Indian time. Photograph: Reuters

1) Where is it happening and when?

The first debate will be held at the Hofstra University in New York’s Long Island area. Hofstra is no newcomer to the debates, having hosted them in 2008 and 2012.

The debate will air in India at 9 pm ET (6.30 am IST on Tuesday). The questions will focus on three broad themes: America’s Direction, Achieving Prosperity and Securing America.

The second debate, on October 9 at Washington University in St Louis, will be moderated by Martha Raddatz of ABC and Anderson Cooper of CNN, while the third debate will be held on October 19 at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. It will be moderated by Chris Wallace of Fox News.

2) Why is the debate historic?

This will be the first time in history that a male and female candidate will face off on a presidential debate stage. And like it or not, they will be judged differently.

Gender communications research shows that men, when they are aggressive, are received positively. When women are perceived as aggressive, they are received negatively. A lot thus rides on these debates.

3) How does the debate work?

The debate, which will be moderated be NBC News’s Lester Holt, will be 90 minutes long with six 15-minute segments and shall have no commercial interruptions.

Apart from the three broad themes referred to earlier, three more questions related to news events that took place this week will also be put to the candidates.

The moderator will open each segment with a question. Each candidate will have two minutes to respond; each will then be allowed to reply to the other's response. The moderator will use the remaining time for follow-up questions.

Each broad theme will be discussed for 30 minutes.

4) How are the candidates prepping for the debate?

While Clinton has a lengthy record of meticulous preparation and formidable performances, Trump has been more unpredictable on this front. After his controversial utterances he needs to be more a sober candidate and stick to the script.

To prepare for the debate, Clinton has been holding mock debate sessions where her aide Philippe Reines essays the role of Trump.

Trump aides said their candidate, who like Clinton participated in numerous TV debates during their respective parties’ nominating races, was preparing hard for the event. His coaches have focused for weeks on training him to stay on course and not drift off the message by booking events where he is trained to stick to the teleprompter.

5) What are the stakes for the candidates?

Both Clinton and Trump enter the debate as the two most deeply unpopular presidential candidates in recent history. The temerarious Trump needs and will have a chance to show the depth and steadiness worthy of a commander-in-chief.

Clinton will have a chance to prove her honesty (some 55 per cent of American voters fail her on this count) and will also have to prove that she has fully recovered from her recent bout of pneumonia.

6) How many people will watch the debates?

Many observers believe that the size of the audience is expected to challenge the presidential debate record of 80 million who watched the 1980 debate between then president Jimmy Carter and Republican challenger Ronald Reagan.

7) What about the candidates’ running mates?

The vice presidential bets Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia and Governor Mike Pence of Indiana will have one debate at Longwood University in Virgina on October 4. That debate will be moderated by Elaine Quijano of CBS News. </s> Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will have the debate stage to themselves at Hofstra University in two weeks.

The bipartisan commission that manages the general election skirmishes said Friday that two third party candidates seeking podiums had failed the qualify for the first match.

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson was once thought to have a shot at reaching the 15 percent threshold in national polls. He came nowhere close in the surveys that were used to determine who made the cut, however, attracting a little more than half of what he would have needed - 8.4 percent.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein was even worse off at 3.2 percent.

The Commission on Presidential Debates said Friday afternoon in a statement that its 'Board determined that the polling averages called for in the third criterion are as follows: Hillary Clinton (43%), Donald Trump (40.4%), Gary Johnson (8.4%) and Jill Stein (3.2%).

'Accordingly, Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, and Donald Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, qualify to participate in the September 26 presidential debate and the October 4 vice-presidential debate, respectively. '

Those debates will take place at Hoftra, in Hempstead, New York, less than 10 miles outside the Big Apple, and Longwood, University, in Farmville, Virginia.

'No other candidates satisfied the criteria for inclusion in the September 26 and October 4 debates. The criteria will be reapplied to all candidates in advance of the second and third presidential debates,' the statement said. </s> Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton will visit Las Vegas this week.

First, the Democratic presidential nominee will have a canvass kickoff event with Labor Secretary Tom Perez at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday at Plumbers & Pipefitters Training Center, 760 N. Lamb Blvd. Doors open at 1:15 p.m.

The next day, Bill Clinton will be in Las Vegas. He’ll join musician Steve Aoki on Thursday for a get-out-the-vote performance that’s part of Clinton’s “Love Trumps Hate” concert series.

The event with the former president is at 5 p.m. Thursday at Cox Pavilion at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.

To RSVP for the event with Bill Clinton, visit https://www.hillaryclinton.com/events/view/h6v26t7lz6f4xfrw/.

The two campaign events occur as early voting nears an end in Nevada. The final day is Friday.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Follow @BenBotkin1 on Twitter. </s> Livestream and live updates from fact-checkers on Twitter during the second presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on October 9, 2016, in St. Louis. Watch here and on CNN at 9 p.m. ET. </s> The second US presidential debate brought a volley of accusations between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as the candidates met in St. Louis. The action and reaction is followed here by the FT DC bureau team, led by Barney Jopson, Courtney Weaver while Anna Nicolaou is reading the mood among supporters in the bar at Trump Tower.

In progress US presidential debate: Trump vs Clinton round two

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Some participant features are not available in Internet Explorer; please use Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome instead. </s> A pedestrian walks past the site for the third presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at UNLV in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2016.

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump's ugly and acrimonious battle for the White House is barreling toward the end, with the candidates taking the debate stage Wednesday night for one final primetime showdown.

For Trump, the debate is perhaps his last opportunity to turn around a race that appears to be slipping away from him. His comments about women and a flood of sexual assault accusations have deepened his unpopularity with women and limited his pathways to victory. His supporters remain intensely loyal, but there are few signs he's attracting the new backers he desperately needs.

Clinton takes the stage facing challenges of her own. While the electoral map currently leans in her favor, the Democrat is facing a new round of questions about her authenticity and trustworthiness, concerns that have trailed her throughout the campaign. The hacking of her top campaign adviser's emails revealed a candidate that is averse to apologizing, can strike a different tone in private than in public, and makes some decisions only after painstaking political deliberations.

The last in a trio of presidential debates, Wednesday's contest in Las Vegas comes just under three weeks from Election Day and with early voting already underway in several key battleground states.

Trump has leaned on an increasingly brazen strategy in the campaign's closing weeks, including peddling charges that the election will be rigged, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud in U.S. presidential contests. He's also charged that Clinton attacked and intimidated women involved with her husband's affairs, bringing three women who accused former President Bill Clinton of unwanted sexual contact and even rape to sit in the audience for the second debate. The former president has never been charged with crimes related to the encounters, though he did settle a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Trump is bringing President Barack Obama's half-brother, Malik Obama, as his debate guest. Clinton is bringing billionaire and frequent Trump critic Mark Cuban and Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, one of the former secretary of state's highest-profile Republican backers.

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said the Democratic nominee "will be ready for whatever scorched-earth tactics (Trump) tries" in Wednesday's debate.

Republicans desperately hope Trump can close the campaign by focusing on Clinton's weaknesses, a strategy some privately concede may not be enough at this point for him to win, but could help GOP Senate candidates salvage their races.

The businessman has shown flashes of renewed focus in recent days, including highlighting a senior State Department official's request that the FBI help reduce the classification of an email from Clinton's private server. It was to be part of a bargain that would have allowed the FBI to deploy more agents in foreign countries, though it was not immediately clear whether the State Department official or someone at the FBI first raised that prospect.

Campaigning Tuesday in Colorado, Trump called the matter "felony corruption" and worse than the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon.

Clinton, who has meticulously prepared for the three debates at the expense of time in battleground states, visibly rattled Trump in their first showdown by using his own controversial comments about women and minorities against him. The businessman was on the defense at the start of the second debate —” which came days after the release of a video in which he brags about kissing and grabbing women — but ended on stronger footing, hammering Clinton for being a creature of Washington who won't be able to bring about change.

Trump denied in the second debate that he had made the kind of unwanted sexual advances he is heard describing on the video. His denial prompted some of the women who have since publicly accused him of assault to come forward.

The Republican has acquiesced to some advisers who pressed for him to do more serious preparations after the first debate. Still, he's continued to eschew the mock debates and multiday prep sessions that he's criticizing Clinton for.

"She's been doing this for 30 years and now she has to do debate prep for five days," Trump said. "You know what the debate prep is? It's resting. It's lying down and going to sleep.

Moderator Chris Wallace —€” the first Fox News journalist to moderate a debate —€” has said he plans to ask the candidates about debt and entitlements, immigration, the economy, the Supreme Court, foreign hot spots and their fitness to be president. He aims to spend 15 minutes on each topic.

AP writer Jill Colvin in Colorado Springs, Colorado, contributed to this report. </s> After months of anticipation and weeks of hype, the final presidential debate landed in Las Vegas, bringing political pundits, protesters and pageantry.

Before Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump took to their lecterns at the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, supporters and characters gathered nearby.

They carried placards and plastered themselves with buttons. Trump backers flashed signs showing the real estate magnate wearing a Make America Great Again ball cap that read, “Hillary Says You’re Deplorables, Trump says you’re patriots.” Clinton backers carried signs reading “Love Trumps Hate.”

Although they were free to clap and march, UNLV police forbade megaphones, arguing that they disturbed classes and interfered with broadcasting journalists, who’d come from across the country.

The debate inside the Thomas & Mack was often intense and contentious. Clinton labeled Trump a “puppet” for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Trump called Clinton a liar and criminal who should have been prosecuted, not allowed to run for president. The puppet remark became an instant meme on Twitter, drawing hundreds of hashtagged tweets.

The presidential debate is over, but election season lasts a little longer. Both Clinton and Trump have campaigned heavily for the state’s six electoral votes.

Ballots in Nevada will be cast starting Saturday.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the valley Sunday to stump for Clinton. </s> FARMVILLE, Va. (AP) — Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Tim Kaine have arrived at the site of the first and only vice presidential debate.

The candidates will face off just past 9 p.m. at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.

Advisers for the candidates suggest there could be fireworks during the 90-minute affair, although vice presidential debates rarely change the direction of a presidential race.

Elaine Quijano of CBS News serves as the moderator.

Neither candidate is as well-known as his running mate. Pence is a first-term governor and previously served as a congressman. Kaine is former Virginia governor and now serves the state in the Senate.

Donald Trump is campaigning in Colorado, but he said he’d be “live tweeting” the debate. Hillary Clinton is at home in New York.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump meet for the third presidential debate of the 2016 U.S. election at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.