on wednesday, republican donald trump and democrat hillary clinton will face off on the debate stage for the third and final time. the meeting in las vegas marks an extraordinary moment in american politics, as mr. trump fends off accusations of sexual misconduct and mrs. clinton grapples with the unprecedented theft of tens of thousands of emails from her campaign chairman, allegedly by hackers linked to russian intelligence agencies. mr. trump has also aggressively moved to cast doubt on the outcome of the election, saying repeatedly and without evidence that the vote will be <u+201c>rigged.<u+201d> with just 20 days left before election day, and voters in several states already casting ballots, here is what each candidate needs to do in the final debate to win over any remaining fence-sitters, persuade wavering supporters and motivate their respective bases. expand his appeal mr. trump is at a low point in his campaign for the white house, with precious little time left to reverse course. polls show that mrs. clinton would be overwhelmingly elected if the vote were held today, with some surveys showing her competitive even in traditionally red states such as georgia, arizona, texas and alaska. capital journal is wsj.com<u+2019>s home for election 2016 news. tonight<u+2019>s<u+00a0>debate may be mr. trump<u+2019>s last best chance to expand his electorate beyond the core group of republican supporters that have propelled him this far, and improve his dismal performance among college-educated suburban women and nonwhite voters, among other key constituencies. the best and perhaps only way to accomplish that is with a strong debate performance.<u+00a0>but mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign kept up a busy schedule of rallies in the days before the debate, suggesting that prep for the event hasn<u+2019>t been a priority for the republican<u+2019>s team. mr. trump also needs to project the image of a plausible commander in chief, and offer a good answer to the accusations of sexual misbehavior. if debate moderator chris wallace of fox news challenges him on his prediction that widespread voter fraud will compromise the election, he<u+2019>ll need a coherent and persuasive answer. keep the pressure on clinton mr. trump has plenty of ammunition to fire mrs. clinton<u+2019>s way<u+2014>the controversy over her email server, the operations of her family foundation, her record in government and the seemingly unending series of embarrassing tidbits that reporters and conservative researchers have discovered in the emails hacked from campaign manager john podesta <u+2019>s account. but mr. trump largely failed to capitalize on such opportunities in the previous two debates. in the first debate, he struggled to land a single blow on mrs. clinton, while the second debate opened with a bitter back-and-forth over various alleged indiscretions and perceived ethical lapses. many of mr. trump<u+2019>s relatively substantive criticisms on trade and mrs. clinton<u+2019>s record were overshadowed by his threat to jail her if he is elected. he will need to be more effective at arguing that mrs. clinton represents a disappointing status quo, that her work as secretary of state has made the world more dangerous, and that she is, in his words, <u+201c>the most corrupt person ever to run for president.<u+201d> don<u+2019>t take the bait mr. trump has proved unable to avoid traps set by mrs. clinton, answering questions or trying to rebut accusations that he should simply dismiss or ignore. in the aftermath of the first debate, he was drawn into a back and forth with a former beauty queen that lasted for days. in the second debate, he categorically denied groping women only to have a number of women come forward in the subsequent days to allege that they were the victims of inappropriate sexual behavior by mr. trump , driving a week of negative press. mr. trump has denied the allegations. in<u+00a0>tonight<u+2019>s<u+00a0>debate he will need to sidestep the pitfalls, stick to a game plan, parry accusations, ignore perceived slights and avoid being drawn into more feuds and controversies that start on the debate stage and end up consuming his campaign for days. keep mr. trump off balance like mr. trump, mrs. clinton needs to keep the pressure on her opponent<u+2014>and she has plenty to work with. from his tax returns and business record, to the recent groping allegations, mrs. clinton can pick and choose which arrows in her quiver to fire at what juncture in the debate. her job will be to keep him off balance and ensure that he remains rattled and on the defensive. be prepared to answer for new revelations in podesta emails while mr. trump has been fending off charges of sexual misconduct,<u+00a0>mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign has been rattled by the release of emails from mr. podesta<u+2019>s account . the emails were stolen from mr. podesta<u+2019>s gmail account and are being published in daily batches by the website wikileaks. though there is little truly explosive material, mr. trump has seized upon several emails in the trove to claim that the political system is rigged. notably, he has pointed to an email where her campaign appeared to received a town hall question in advance during the democratic primary and to one in which officials in the fbi and state department seemed to negotiate the classification status of an email from mrs. clinton<u+2019>s private server. mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign has been making the case that the hacking appears to be the work of foreign actors linked to russia , a charge also made by the u.s. intelligence community. she<u+2019>ll need to answer for any<u+00a0>embarrassing<u+00a0>emails in the trove<u+2014>or successfully dismiss their relevance<u+2014>and deliver that same message on the debate stage. in a nutshell: don<u+2019>t mess up mrs. clinton needs to continue to stay above the fray. in the first two encounters, she remained remarkably cool and disciplined, refusing to answer some of mr. trump<u+2019>s charges and staying on message. mrs. clinton needs to be prepared for whatever mr. trump may throw at her. in the previous debate, he invited women who had accused her husband of sexual misconduct to sit in the audience. mr. trump<u+2019>s team confirmed that he had invited to the debate president barack obama <u+2019>s kenyan-born half-brother,<u+00a0>malik, who has had a strained relationship with the president. mr. trump has also invited the mother of a state department it consultant killed in the 2012 benghazi terrorist attacks. the polling suggests that, at present, the onus is on mr. trump to steer his campaign out of its rough patch, while mrs. clinton needs only continue on course. mrs. clinton needs to avoid gaffes,<u+00a0>misstatements<u+00a0>and awkward responses, while also continuing her efforts to seem presidential and focused on the issues.<u+00a0>she<u+00a0>has already delivered two well-received debate performances. expectations are high for her. she<u+2019>ll need a steady and credible third debate performance to finish out a turbulent and wild political season. write to byron tau at byron.tau@wsj.com
hillary clinton, donald trump need to win wavering supporters in final debate - wsj
byron tau