5 steps for Clinton to secure the Obama coalition at tonight’s debate

Hillary Clinton was the hands-down winner of the first presidential debate. Polling since then suggests that it helped strengthen her numbers and blunt any momentum that Donald Trump may have had. She’s poised to have another strong performance tonight.

To stay on top, these are the things I’d advise her to keep in mind as she heads to St. Louis:

1. Connect. Connect. Connect. In townhall debates, you’re not just talking to moderators and your opponent. You’re fielding questions from voters in the audience and via social media. They want to hear directly from you about what you will do to impact their lives. The more effectively you can connect directly with them on a human level — weaving in your policy prescriptions and your own life experiences with an understanding of their concerns — the better you will do in this format.
   
   Bill Clinton’s mastery of this format in the 1992 election, and his famous ability to “feel your pain,” provides a template for how presidential candidates can humanize themselves. This is especially important given Trump’s tendency to bring every question — no matter the topic — back to himself in a self-aggrandizing way.
   
   If Hillary Clinton can successfully empathize with her questioner, she will score big points with both the audience in St. Louis and the viewers watching at home.

2. “That Vision Thing.” In the first debate, Clinton did a masterful job of disassembling Donald Trump. Perhaps because of the format, and perhaps because of the petulance of her opponent, she did not have many opportunities to present an aspirational case for her candidacy.
   
   As recent polls have shown, key blocs of the crucial Obama coalition continue to show hesitancy about her candidacy. Focus groups have stressed that while they know what her case is against Trump, they don’t know what her vision is. This format allows her to go big and bold and talk about the huge challenges we face as a nation, and how her optimistic vision — of an inclusive America, where we are stronger together — will build on President Obama’s legacy.
   
   Chief among these issues are the existential threat that climate change poses; the need to reform our broken criminal justice system and end policing tactics that break down the relationship between law enforcement and communities of color; and the moral and economic imperative we face as a nation to fix our broken and inhumane immigration system.

3. Don’t Over Prep on Policy or Zingers. As someone who has prepped a candidate tasked with debating Clinton, I can tell you one thing: she knows her stuff. She has forgotten more about economic and national security policies than Trump will ever know.
   
   Indeed, everyone from Libertarian vice presidential candidate Bill Weld to Obama himself has said that there is no one more prepared to serve as commander in chief than Clinton.
   
   With all of that in mind, she should view questions from the audience and moderators not as a test for which she should prepare meticulously to lay out point-by-point policy prescriptions, but as an opportunity to speak in human terms about what she would do as president.
   
   We saw a bit of “overprep” creep into the debate when she tried to land clearly-scripted zingers like “Trumped up trickle down economics.” Voters can see through the artifice of canned lines, and she doesn’t need them to win.

4. Learn from what worked in the first debate. Clinton won the first debate. She eviscerated Donald Trump without going into attack mode, and maintained a serene, poised, and occasionally playful demeanor throughout.
   
   It was a striking contrast with Trump, who repeatedly interrupted Clinton and looked dour, defensive, and disgruntled when challenged on his policy prescriptions, previous statements, and business career. There is no indication that a “new” Trump will emerge, so it is in Clinton’s best interest to maintain her good humor and calm — even when pressed on tough issues or faced with insults from her opponent.

5. Learn from what didn’t work in the VP Debate. Unlike a lot of political observers, it’s not my opinion that Mike Pence scored a home run in the vice presidential debate.
   
   Whenever he was pressed about Trump’s history of offensive comments or controversial policy positions — such as his deportation task force, or his inconsistencies on issues like foreign policy, he refused to stand up for his running mate. But he did display a cool, calm, and collected demeanor throughout and he was able to make a connection with the viewer that Tim Kaine did not — he addressed the American people, not just the audience.
   
   The biggest problem with Kaine’s performance wasn’t the substance of his argument, it was his style and demeanor. He spent the majority of the debate on the attack, repeatedly interrupting Pence, and often looking angry and exasperated. His performance showed that while you can win on substance, if you forget about stylistic presentation, you can lose the debate.

Hillary Clinton has been called the “most famous, least well known person” in the country. For decades, she’s been labeled as everything from a modern-day Lady Macbeth to someone who operates above the law. Yet the people who know her best describe her as a kind, humble, and caring person.

At times, we’ve gotten a glimpse of “this” Hillary Clinton. From speaking about the difficulty of “put(ting) ourselves out there … against very difficult odds” to admitting that she is not a “natural politician” like Obama, these moments provided a rare window into her vulnerability and showed her at her most appealing.

There is no better setting for her to channel these humanizing moments than a town hall setting where she can interact with actual voters. If she succeeds, Americans will finally get to see her at her most appealing.

Smith is a Democratic strategist & co-founder of 50 State Communications. She served as the deputy campaign manager for Martin O’Malley’s presidential campaign.

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