His legendary life and career, revolutionizing the sport, inspiring generations of athletes with his style, and every man touch. If i can teach them to leave the game better, then ive been successful. The tributes pouring in around the globe this morning. Good morning, america. And welcome yet in the race for the white house. Youre looking live at Hofstra University. Thats the debate hall where donald trump and Hillary Clinton are going to take the stage tonight for their first debate. Were going to be covering it live right here at 9 00 p. M. Right here on abc. Amy, its a 90minute debate. Six 15minute segments. Three broad topics. We learned something. Hillary clinton gets the first question. Each candidate has two minutes to reply to the questions. So many people will be in fact, nearly threequarters of American Voters are saying theyre planning to watch tonights debate. Rivaling the super bowl audience that would crush the previous debate record when 80 Million People watched the Ronald Reagan jimmy carter showdown in 1980. The latest abc News Washington post poll shows clinton ahead by just two points. 46 to 44. As you know, that is a statistical dead heat. The excitement building with just a f a lot at stake tonight. Full Team Coverage this morning and tonight. Tom llamas starts us off from inside the debate hall at hofstra. Good morning, tom. Reporter george, good morning to you. The road to the white house comes right through Hofstra University tonight. Just behind me, you can see the debate stage. Hillary clinton will be stage left, and donald trump will be standing stage right. This could be the most watched debate in the history of this country and could change the direction of the race. Debate coach, rudy giuliani, cheque out the stage. As the candidates were preparing, their top advisers already firing the first shot. All that were asking is that if donald trump lies, that its pointed out. Reporter the clinton team looking for a referee to flag trump if he gets his points and facts wrong. Trumps campaign saying let the candidates duke it out. I dont appreciate campaigns thinking its the job of the media to go and be these virtual factcheckers. Reporter the Clinton Campaign adding drama before the fi is even asked. Giving a debate ticket to trump tormenter mark cuban. If he came on shark tank, i wouldnt make the investment. Reporter trump responding on twitter, if dopey mark cuban of failed benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps i will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him. Flowers is a woman who had an affair with clinton decades ago. The campaign saying, she was not invited. Gennifer flowers will not be rsh as the reporter as the candidates go, clinton is the more experienced. Which enemy are you most proud of . In addition to the nra, the Health Insurance companies. The drug companies. The iranians. Probably the republicans. Reporter but trump took on an army of republicans in the primaries through 11 debates and was never afraid of saying what he really thinks. He referred to my hands. If theyre small, Something Else must be small. I guarantee you, theres no problem. I guarantee you. All right . Okay. Reporter well see if there will be moments like that tonight. The Trump Campaign job is not lowering expectations. Just yesterday, Trumps Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway quoted Newt Gingrich saying donald trump is the babe ruth of debates. Tonight, the Trump Campaign has launched snapchat filters to build support. On social media, one of those filters is live right now. George . A whole lot on social media tom, thank you very much. Hillary clinton reportedly preparing for the debate all month. She told us last month shes quote getting ready. Tonight will be her 35th president ial debate. She participated in 25 in 2008 and then 9 during this elections primaries, and Abcs Cecilia Vega joins us now with more on how clinton is preparing for this evening. Good morning, cecilia. Shes a veteran. Good morning. Hillary clintons team calls donald trump a formidable foe. Preparing for this debate has not been easy for her. Clinton has said, there are two Donald Trumps. A reserved candidate and an aggressive one. She has had to prepare for both to show up. She has been in intense prep sessions. Shes been holding mock debates. Studying video of him in past debates. Her campaign met with trumps ghost writer trying to find out what make him tick. What makes her team most nervous . Her aides say they feel the bar is lower for donald trump. That as long as he sticks to the appear president ial. They need him to go off message tonight. We also learned about clintons guest list tonight. Among her debates longtime supporters who have a special relationship with her, including a 9 11 survivor. And mark cuban. They give him the best seat they have got. We know that tweet over the weekend, donald trump saying he was going to invite Gennifer Flowers to the debate. He rescinded that. He isnt going to actually do that. Obviously, clinton has to be prepin they say they are ready for attacks on infidelity attacks, but they say thats not what theyre most worried about. They need trump to go off message. They dont want a subdued donald trump. Here with the whole Political Team this morning. Here with martha raddatz. Want to get to jon karl as well. Lets begin by look at the poll. Our poll showing a dead heat. A lot of other information coming in supporting that as well. Month, Hillary Clinton had a big eightpoint lead. Now 4644. This race is statistically tied. A new bloomberg poll shows the race tied. That was also out this morning. If you look at this, among independent voters, donald trump has a fivepoint lead. Last month, Hillary Clinton led. Going into the debate, here are Hillary Clintons advantages. By 26 points, she knows World Affairs better, she has the right temperament, and she is more qualified. Big leads. Donald trump has to show he fits those categories. But look at this. The question of who is more honest and trustworthy . Donald trump has a big lead. In temples of who is in better health, donald trump, a 22point lead. Hillary clinton has to convince voters that she is honest and in good shape. Those are the Overall National numbers. At the same time, the electoral college, Hillary Clinton has an edge. That is tightening, as well. Heres the race ratings. The blue states lean Hillary Clinton. Tossup states, pure tossups. He doesnt have enough votes to win. Hes still behind. But he needs to win someplace where Hillary Clinton has an advantage. Theres a new poll out today, george, that shows pennsylvania now a tied race. If he can win pennsylvania, he would be able to win the presidency. I want to play one other possibility. He could try to win in New Hampshire. A place he won in the primary. That would give you 269269. And it goes to congress. Thats why Hillary Clinton is going to New Hampshire this week. You talked to undecided voters. There are relatively few. But this year, more people moving around a little bit. Its unbelievable to me to go out there with the voters and after 18 months to have campaigning still have so many people say to you, i dont know who i want. So when they watch the debate tonight, theres about 3 truly undecided. Theyre independent, they are the debate will matter. What has to happen . They have to do something spectacularly good or spectacularly bad to change their minds. Right now, they just dont know. Theyre not voting against anyone. Theyre not voting for anyone. They dont like either one of them sometimes they go back and forth to johnson or stein. Exactly. You can ask, what about gary johnson or jill stein . Havent made up my mind yet. Its remarkable how many people say that to you when youre out there. Back to amy. Were joined by political strategists who know what its like to prep candidates for a president ial debate. Abcs matt dowd, chief strategist for george w. Bushs reelection campaign. And david plouffe, Barack ObamasCampaign Manager in 2008. Good morning, guys. And matt, this is trumps first oneonone political debate. What is his team focusing on right now . I dont think they have ever dealt with the audience hell have tonight. Being there for an hour and a he has to have an ability, to one, stay focused and onmessage, and he has had moments of discipline. Can he take that moment and stretch that to an hour and a half . Its tough. And twominute responses. Twominute responses. What is clintons team strategizing on . Its a huge opportunity for her. Shes not a great retail politician. I think the key thing is people know shes got good ideas, or at least ideas and policies. She has to speak from the heart and gut about why shes doing this. And connect with the membersf she has to speak from the heart a. Doesnt she have to, assuming, wi we dont know what the moderator is going to do tonight. Lester holt has not spoken. She has to be prepared, i believe, to take the fight to donald trump. Absolutely. Theres polls out every day that clinton is winning this race. Donald trump is the one that has to change the dynamic. If all she does, and i think she needs to do more, is keep the race where it is and dont give him momentum, thats important. You cant get in your head that you have to be fact checker in chief, but i think you have to take moments not in every answer, and have moments where its clear that donald trump is not fit to sit in the oval office. Or the situation room. The problem for Hillary Clinton is she does have a slight lead. Shes kept him in the game. Hes within a field goal. You dont want to go into the last few days of the election and have goal. Anything can happen. If he overcomes one our two points, he wins. The Clinton Campaign wants trump to go off mention and be crazy. What does trump need to do . What does he have to accomplish tonight . They have to switch positions. He needs to be less visceral and more rational. More head, less heart. He has to try as best he can to not do his mannerisms that he sometimes does and not go off on her personally. Isnt that why people are watching . He has to have an emotional connection but show he has the knowledge to be president. And david, for each of them right now, what is the one issue they have to get to, even if it doesnt come up from the moderator . I think for clinton, its to speak about why am i doing this right now . Again, Everybody Knows she has policies. She has to find the moment to say why am i doing this . Why am i motivated to do this . Skpipg and i think she has to dr that Donald Trumps policies would hurt. Donald trump has to show command or Foreign Policy and national security. Theyre human beings. Everyone has prep. Everyone has strategy. You dont know what happens once the bell goes off. Each candidate will have to call a lot of audibles tonight. Theyre done preparing. Reading binders. I think today, theyre focused on the safe place. They need to have a safe place that no matter what the question something, and they dont know the answer, they have to go to safe place. Have to be able to end up in a place theyre comfortable in. Also curious about lester holt. Should he be Encyclopedia Britannica . I dont know about that, but journalists are supposed to discover the truth. Part of it should be factchecking. They shouldnt be an arm of the campaign. But in the course of the debate, he does need to come up. If somebody tells a baldfaced lie, he shld if you look at debates, historically, moderators dont read questions. Anyone can do that. They help direct the conversation. But particularly, Hillary Clinton, it cant be in her head, that why is lester holt not factchecking . She has to take the opportunity when the moment presents itself. David, you have helped get social media involved. Tonight, we will see something we have not seen. Parallel, at exactly the same time on social media. The campaigns fighting it out fiercely. Its fascinating. There will be a huge audience. A consensus will begin to emerge. Ash who is having the best night. The benghazi moment in our second debate happened an hour in. Its important the entire 90 minutes. You have to have a sound strategy to drive that conversation, but you have to get off to a good start. Its not just winning tonight. Winning tonight is important. But its winning in the three days. We have breaking news out of houston. Emergency personnel called to a strip mall where 17 people were shot. It happened around 6 29. Choppers on the sight captured at least one person down. The suspect, carrying a revolver. First spotted by Law Enforcement behind some trees. Opened firing, and police were theres no motive, but Police Forced to call in a bomb squad. Much of the houston area remains closed due to traffic at this hour. Lets move on. We celebrate the king of golf, Arnold Palmer. After a legendary career on the course where he won over generations of fans with his bold style and personality, we remember the man and the mark he made. Reporter Arnold Palmer was one of golfs greatest players ever, and questionably, one of the most beloved. He burst onto the golf scene in the mid 50s that led him to win seven majors from 1958 to 1964, including to twostroke victory over Jack Nicklaus at the u. S. Open. It belongs to Arnold Palmer. Reporter he came back to win four triumphs. It was how he won. His pantshitching made him a stoo superstar, making so many proud p to be part of arnies army. Playing with president s, pros, and just plain old people. In 2004, he would be given the president ial medal of freedom. The United States honors this proud citizen for his athletic skill, his many contributions to sport and to america. [ applause ] reporter millions who never saw him hit a golf shot, also knew Arnold Palmer for the ice tea and lemonade drink that bears his awesome. Reporter he died at the age of 87. Tiger woods tweeting, its hard to imagine golf without you, or anyone more important to the game than the king. Latrobe, pennsylvania never lost his zest for life or the game. I say, if i can teach a young man coming along to leave the game better than they found it when they arrived, i have been successful. Arnold palmer was certainly successful. How many guys get a drink named after them . Thats my husbands favorite drink. That will be one of his last legaci legacies. Lets go to ginger with the flooding. I used to serve that drink. Number one by far. Lets check your weather because look at this. Were talking about not your run of the mill flooding in eastern iowa, but some of the worst flooding that they will have seen since 2008. If you recall those images, it was horrendous. They are way ahead of this. Look what was already happening. This is independence, iowa. Remember, last week, we were talking about flash flooding, and more than 15 inches falling quickly. They are putting out sandbags and everybody was doing that, and they are preparing for the worst. Heres what we have. Flood warnings up and down the Mississippi River and cedar river. As we go in closer, flood stage or major flood stage is 16 feet, and its above that, and expected tonight into tomorrow to rise to 23 feet. This is a serious situation, and we will be on it for the to 36 hours. Your local weather in 30 seconds, first though, your and with a beautiful fall backdrop, ill take my imaginary Arnie Palmers and serve them to you so we can toast him. Thank you, ginger. And coming up here on gma, a lot more on the trumpclinton showdown. Plus, the latest from charlotte. The questions growing about the newly released dash cam video in the killing of Keith Lamont Scott. His brotherinlaw joins us. Coming up. And the latest on the rising baseball star, jose fernandez, tragically killed in a boating accident. His incredible story. Overcoming all the today make it to america, inspiring so many as . . . . Come seek the royal caribbean. Come on. You can do it dogs just wont quit. Neither does frontline. Introducing new frontline gold. With its new easy applicator frontline gold delivers powerful protection ys. Its new triple action formula is relentless at killing fleas and ticks. Frontline gold. The latest innovation from the maker of frontline plus. 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