today. i ll see you back here next saturday at adm. eastern smerconish is up next setting the bar i m michael smerconish in philadelphia, thursday here on cnn is the first of two scheduled debates between president biden and trump. jake tapper and dana bash will moderate the debate will last 90 minutes with no live audience. there will be no opening statements, answers will be two minutes rebuttals will be one-minute closing statements will be two minutes based on a coin toss, trump will go last. there will be two commercial breaks and perhaps the biggest wrinkle microphones will be muted when it s not someone s turn the stakes are high. the racist tight weather measured in national surveys or by battleground states. so the debate is a very big deal and opinions as to who won will no longer be influenced by expectations advantage joe biden. and here s why call it, be careful what you wish for in the last two weeks, president biden traveled overseas to participate in a
era right now where we re running national elections. this election is going to come down to a handful of states, a few battleground states and the nominees who advance to the general election where the battleground states matter will need to get through places like iowa. and right now the polls in iowa are not telling us very much. i will say, though, that the polls in iowa have never really been useful for the horse race element of it very far out. i mean we know that this is a place where they love a late-surging candidate. i mean the person who is in the lead in august, september, october often is not the winner of the caucuses. you see people like ted cruz, john kerry all making their late breaks and becoming the winners of the iowa caucuses. so i mean it s an interesting measure, these polls here, in terms of what they kind of tell you about the mood of iowa
level polls because we re really not living in an era right now where we re running national elections. this election is going to come down to a handful of states, a few battleground states and the nominees who advance will need to get through places like iowa. and right now the polls in iowa are not telling us very much. i will say though that the polls in iowa have never really been useful for the horse race element of it very far out. i mean, we know that this is a place where they love a late-surging candidate. the person who is in the lead in august, september, october often is not the winner of the caucuses. you see people like ted cruz, john kerry, all making their late breaks and becoming winners of the iowa caucuses. so, it s an interesting measure, these polls here in terms of
not in a snarky way. but when you were on my show or any other cable show, you were expected to pop. you were expected to say something spikey. i was watching the show today and i heard someone say no one is interested in what happens in the white house any more. no one is going to be interested at all. and i thought to myself, you know, that is so sad. and people need to focus on the positive and focus on the projects and the work politicians are doing, not just on the horse race element. and then i thought to myself, oh, no, that would probably not sell very many magazines. having said all of that, i think we have to collectively try to move in that direction because at the end of the day, what this is about is can we have effective democracies. right. but by being snarky, to use your term, some people would say skeptical, doesn t journalism
not in a snarky way. but when you were on my show or any other cable show, you were expected to pop. you were expected to say something spikey. i was watching the show today and i heard someone say no one is interested in what happens in the white house any more. no one is going to be interested at all. and i thought to myself, you know, that is so sad. and people need to focus on the positive and focus on the projects and the work politicians are doing, not just on the horse race element. and then i thought to myself, oh, no, that would probably not sell very many magazines. having said all of that, i think we have to collectively try to move in that direction because at the end of the day, what this is about is can we have effective democracies. right. but by being snarky, to use your term, some people would say skeptical, doesn t journalism