Electoral battles

US 2016 election debate: Your guide to 'the mother of all job interviews'

The debates are the last, best chance for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to make their case to the nation.

Neither candidate will be able to command the attention of the American public the way they will in the three upcoming presidential debates. And no debate will have as large an audience, or do as much to shape public perceptions of the candidates, as this first one.

There's a good chance Monday night's affair will break the record of 80 million Americans who watched incumbent Jimmy Carter face-off against Ronald Reagan in 1980.

In an election cycle that's measured in months and even years, this debate gives Americans a real, unscripted opportunity to see how the would-be presidents might handle the intense stresses of the Oval Office. It's the mother of all job interviews.