starts right now. hi, ari. hi, all night. i ll be with you all night. see you soon. see you soon. thanks. welcome to debate night in america. this special edition of the beat will take you through everything you need to know as we ramp up. this live shot outside the debate hall for joe biden and donald trump. this is the earliest general election debate in american history. that s not all:alex wagner is there and will be joining us in a moment. the biden campaign pushed to jumpstart interest in the race by making this debate earlier. we could tell you tonight a huge 73% of voters say they are planning to watch tonight. and you can, too. nicolle mentioned this debate airs right here on msnbc in about three hours with rachel maddow leading the special coverage in under an hour. i can also tell you this is the first debate between a president and a former president. kind of an interesting factoid there. also the first time these two have been near each other at all since