Debate Takeaways: Stark differences between Trump, Biden

 After more than a year of circling each or, Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden met on debate st Tuesday night in Ohio.

74-year-old president and 77-year-old former vice president are similar in , and y share a mutual dislike. But y differ starkly in style and substance. All of that was evident from outset on Cleveland st.

Here are key early takeaways from first of three scheduled presidential debates before Election Day on v. 3.

POTUS INTERUPTUS

Trump has been itching to attack Biden for months, and he wasted time going on offense. He repeatedly interrupted Biden mid-sentence, sometimes in intensely personal ways.

“re’s thing smart about you,” Trump said of Biden. “47 years you’ve done thing.”

While Trump played into his reputation as a bully, it may have been effective at breaking up worst of Biden’s attacks — simply by talking over m.

Trump aides believed before debate that Biden would be unable to withstand wiring offensive on style and substance from Trump, but Biden came with a few retorts of his own, calling Trump a “clown” and mocking Trump’s style by asking, “Will you shut up, man?”

His supporters may have been cheered by Trump's frontal nature. Wher undecided voters, who watched debate to try to learn about two candidates, were impressed is ar matter.

TRUMP CAN'T ESCAPE VIRUS

Trump has wanted election to be about anything but coronavirus pandemic, but he couldn’t outrun reality on debate st.

“It is what it is because you are who you are,” Biden told president, referring to Trump’s months of downplaying COVID-19 while he said privately he understood how deadly it is.

But Trump didn’t take it quietly. He proceeded to blitz Biden with a mix of self-defense and counter-offensives. 200,000 dead? Biden’s death toll would have been “millions,” Trump said. A rocky ecomy? Biden would’ve been worse. Biden wouldn’t have manufactured eugh masks or ventilators.

kicker: “re will be a vaccine very soon.”

Biden fell back on his bottom line: “A lot of people died, and a lot more are going to unless he gets a lot smarter.”

For voters still undecided about who’d better handle pandemic, exchange may t have offered m anything new.

QUESTION ABOUT COURT, ANSWER ABOUT HEALTH CARE

Trump defended his decision to minate Amy Coney Barrett to Supreme Court just weeks before Election Day, saying “elections have consequences.”

Biden said he was “t opposed to justice,” but said “American people have a right to have a say in who Supreme Court minee is.”

But rar than litigate Republicans' 2016 blocking of Merrick Garland to high court, Biden quickly pivoted to issues that will potentially come before court: healthcare and abortion. It’s an effort by Democrat to refocus all-but-certain confirmation fight for Trump’s third justice to Supreme Court into an assault on Trump and his record.

Biden said Barrett, who would be sixth justice on nine-member court to be appointed by a Republican, would endanger Affordable Care Act and tens of millions of Americans with preexisting conditions, and would imperil legalized abortion. It was a reframing of political debate to terms far more favorable to Democrat, and one Trump played into. Trump said of conservative Barrett, “You don’t kw her view on Roe vs. Wade” and he defended his efforts to try to chip away at popular Obama-era health law.

Biden has tried to press Democrats to use court confirmation fight as a rallying cry against Trump, and debate discussion largely played out on his turf.

WALLACE TRIES TO MODERATE A MUD FIGHT

Debate moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News held his ground Tuesday after saying beforehand that it was t his job to fact-check candidates, especially Trump, in real time.

But Wallace struggled to stop Trump from interrupting and at times seemed to lose control of debate.

“Mr. President, as moderator, we are going to talk about COVID in next segment,” Wallace said.

Soon after: “I’m moderator, and I’d like you to let me ask my question.”

Minutes later: “I have to give you roughly equal time. Please let vice president talk.”

And when Wallace ted that Trump hasn’t come up with his health care plan in nearly four years, Trump turned question back on Wallace.

“First of all, I’m debating you and t him. That’s okay. I’m t surprised.”

Wallace said he wanted to be “invisible.”

Well, that was impossible. DEBATES DON'T MATTER? THINK AGAIN

re was plenty of talk heading into Tuesday that debates don't matter. Indeed, this has been a remarkably stable race through months of seismic headlines: Biden has maintained a lead, with Trump holding his enthusiastic base to remain within striking distance.

But presidential elections often turn on margins, and Tuesday marked many firsts for some voters who could prove decisive in battleground states.

It was first time Biden has had Trump go after his son Hunter Biden to his face, first time Biden's had to respond to Trump casting him as a do-thing career politician, first time two men could mix it up over 2010 health care law.

Likewise, it was first time Trump had to respond to Biden casting his presidency as a divisive failure on everything from pandemic to race relations. Biden also used opportunity to push back at some of Trump's caricatures that he's a puppet of left-wing. Instead, Biden pitched himself as center-left politician he's been for most of his career.

Maybe back-and-forth won't sway as many voters as in 1980, when challenger Ronald Reagan used debate st to turn a seemingly competitive race with President Jimmy Carter into a blowout.

But it also could be a 1960 redux. That year, Sen. John Kennedy excelled in new television debate format, and he went on to win decisive states, Illiis and Texas, by fewer than 60,000 votes combined. And of course, it's worth remembering 2016, when Trump lost national popular vote but carried Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin by fewer than 100,000 votes combined to win Electoral College anyway. Debates don't have to move millions to matter.

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