Even most locals, including your faithful scribe, are likely to temporarily set aside pressing matters of health, employment, housing and schools for a few hours of one sort of escapism or another.
As many as 100 million people may tune in via broadcast, cable or livestream at 9p tonight to watch the first Presidential debate of 2020, which will take place along the Healthline in University Circle on the combined health education campus of the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University.
Former Vice President is facing off against President Donald Trump, who returns to the city where he was nominated by the Republican National Convention in 2016. Social distancing is expected to limit the live audience to around 100 people, perhaps fewer expect than the number of demonstrators expected to gather outside Case/Clinic Samson Pavilion.
Fox news anchor Chris Wallace will moderate the commercial free 90 minute program.
Two hours before the debate that could shape the future of American democracy and/or a new world order, the marquee game of the first day of Major League Baseball’s playoffs will see Cleveland Indians ace right-hander Shane Bieber throw the first pitch in a three game series in the American League Wild Card Series against the New York Yankees. A sold out crowd in excess of 35,000 would normally be expected; thanks to COVID-19, attendance at the debate will likely exceed fans at the ballpark.
Both events will carry drama and tension. At the ballgame there will be six umpires, one to call balls and strikes, and five more ready to call “safe”, “out” or ‘foul”. At the debate, the moderator will ask questions and keep time, leaving the “out” and “foul” calls, aka fact-checking, to the home audience, journalists, pundits and partisans.
When the evening is over, we will know who won the ballgame and who leads in the three-game series. We may not be much closer to knowing who will win the election. The Vice President will be challenged to keep his cool, appear presidential, avoid gaffes, and refrain from being drawn into the kind of confusion and chaos that Mr. Trump revels in.
The president’s guttural instincts for the low road, falsehoods, and general nastiness make him the political equivalent of the Peanuts cartoon character Pigpen, but without the latter’s amiability.
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Mr. Biden will be victorious in tonight's matchup if he can be as resolutely focused as Lucy in her consistent ability to keep the kicker off his game.
Hopefully the Biden camp will have prepared their candidate with a few well-placed lines that call attention to Mr. Trump’s abysmal record in handling the pandemic. Otherwise, their candidate needs to focus on what he will do with respect to the economy, healing the country’s divisions, and returning us to as close to semi-normal as may be possible in the next four years.
While the president’s taxes may be mentioned, perhaps by the moderator, they are unlikely to be much of an issue in this year’s election. Mr. Trump’s relentless efforts to polarize the nation as a means of galvanizing his base have been the virtual equivalent of his shooting someone at random on Broadway during rush hour, denying the shooting occurred, and blaming the victim for interfering with the bullet’s path, while demeaning his credibility and heritage.
As for the Indians, we have been reluctant to write about them for years while they retained their offensive Wahoo mascot. While the name is still problematic, and needs to be changed, they have been a great under the radar story this year, with the illness of their manager, the steadfast leadership of coach Sandy Alomar, the brilliance of Bieber, and the irrepressibility of their on the field engine, Jose Ramirez.
Here’s hoping that Uncle Joe and Joltin’ Jose have us feeling good at night’s end.
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