Hillary, Trump prepare for historic presidential debate

Washington : US Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are preparing for what may turn out to be the most important 90 minutes of American political history, set to unfold on Monday. Republican Trump and Democrat Clinton will face off for the first time in the first of three scheduled presidential debates on Monday at the Hofstra University on Long Island, New York.

According to analysts, this debate could turn out to be the most watched events in television history with an audience expected to exceed 100 million. It could beat a record set in 1980 when 80 million Americans watched Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan battle it out, CBS News reported.

Trump has began preparations in earnest on Friday when he finally broke from his hectic campaign schedule for a day without any public or private events so he could focus on his presentation for the 90minute event that will begin at 9 p.m., with no commercial interruptions, the Guardian reported.

Clinton, in contrast, has spent most of this week with close aides at her Dutch colonial home in Chappaqua, a hamlet north of New York city. According to sources, Trump has been watching videos of Clinton's best and worst debate moments, looking for her vulnerabilities, the New York Times said.

The analysts have said that the two candidates were taking vastly different approaches and their divergent strategies revealed how the two and their campaigns see the race, their strengths and their opponents' weaknesses.

Trump's campaign does not want to fill his head with facts and figures, but instead, they want him to practice staying focused on bigger themes, such as jobs, terrorism, protecting the homeland and closing borders, rather than picking fights on side issues.

If Trump expresses admiration for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, she is prepared to evoke the hero of the Republican Party: "What would Ronald Reagan say about a Republican nominee who attacks American generals and heaps praise on Russia's president?" as she recently said. Trump's main strategy during d bates is often to attack and insult opponents, the analysts said.