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By Matthew Rusling
Las Vegas, the United States, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is leading in the polls, but she needs to deliver a knockout blow to Republic opponent Donald Trump in Wednesday's third and final presidential debate to truly solidify her lead.
The event comes not long after the second debate 10 days earlier, which saw Clinton speak eloquently about foreign and domestic policy but fail to deliver a knockout blow to crush her opponent. While the former secretary of state showed an impressive understanding of U.S. foreign policy, she allowed Trump to dominate the conversation during much of the debate, and at times appeared at a loss for a punchy comeback to Trump's many accusations of corruption.
The lead-up to the previous debate saw pundits predicting that Trump would crash and burn at that debate, given the release of the tapes in which Trump made lewd sexist remarks. But Clinton was unable to capitalize on this, despite it being there for the taking, and Trump spent much of the debate hurling accusations against her for her alleged corruption.
The most obvious way to hit Trump hard in the final debate would be to focus on the slew of accusations that have been piling up over the last week - which Trump strongly denies - that the billionaire is a serial sexual harasser. Indeed, several women have come forward over the past week alleging that Trump groped, fondled and kissed them without their consent.
But it remains unknown whether Clinton will hit him on this issue or remain cautious, perhaps waiting for Trump to make a mistake and shoot himself in the foot, as he has so often done with his outlandish remarks and over-the-top comments.
"Heading into the third debate, Clinton has the challenge of deciding whether to push hard on Trump-to both fire up her base as well as to present a clear alternative for moderate voters-versus again remaining cautious and letting Trump damage himself," Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua, noting that Clinton's strategy during the previous debate was one of caution.
"She has to carefully thread the needle between firing up the Democratic base and reaching out to moderates who know they won't vote for Trump, but aren't sure they want to vote for Clinton," Mahaffee said.
Clinton's other main challenge will be to appear approachable, as Americans like their leaders to look like they can understand the struggles of ordinary Americans - especially at a time when the economy has not fully recovered from the 2007-2008 economic nose dive.
"Her biggest challenge is connecting with people and making them feel she cares about them," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua.
While Clinton is well-versed in foreign and domestic policy issues, Americans watching the debate are more likely to pay attention to whether she shows empathy toward every day Americans.
"It is less what she knows about the issues than how she expresses herself and demonstrates that she shares people's values. She has to be careful that Trump doesn't pigeon-hole her as the candidate of the status quo and himself as the agent of change," West said, referring to Trump's claims that he is able to turn the country around for the better.
Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that there is a virtue, politically, for Clinton to let Trump be Trump. "The key though is to be present enough to energize the coalition that she will need for victory and keep supporters excited for the post-election period, if she wins," he said.
West added that this debate is important but it is likely to be seen by fewer viewers than either of the first two debates.
"Most people tend to watch the first debate than the last one so that is the reason the first one often is the most important," he said.
After this debate, it will be hard for either candidate to command the size of audience seen in this debate. News coverage of speeches and rallies doesn't get the same readership and viewership as television debates, West noted.
