Weeks of preparation all come down to tonight, and for Fox News, the stakes are high. “There’s really no margin for error,” Jay Wallace, vice president for news and senior executive producer of news and politics told The New York Times. “So many people are just so interested in this debate. Whether it’s the number of candidates or Donald Trump, there’s been a spotlight on this one that is unlike any other debate we’ve ever had.”
Every detail—from the spacing of the lecterns to the precise timing of arrivals and questions—has been checked and rehearsed:
“It’s like 100 details must be done right, and the high-wire act of it is, if the most important one or the least important one fails, then it can take the whole thing down,” said Michael Clemente, the executive vice president for news editorial of Fox News. “Even bad lighting on a candidate can make all the difference in the world.”
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