**Written by Doug Powers

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will finally debate at Hofstra University, and it starts at 9 p.m. ET. Hillary’s team is tasked with the unenviable chore of getting her through the 90 minute debate without a coughing fit or worse, and Team Trump is putting a last-minute application of Flex Seal on his hair. It’s on!

The Clinton campaign has been pushing the narrative that the moderator (NBC News’ Lester Holt) will need to help “fact check” Trump. The media, as CNN demonstrates here, is dutifully following suit:

Suspense has been building for weeks, given the huge political stakes of an increasingly competitive election. And Trump’s wild card antics, which will test Clinton’s fact checking skills, mean no one can predict how the showdown at Hofstra University in New York will unfold.

Yes, because Hillary’s proven herself to be such a beacon of honesty. In any case, an FTD “Good Lapdog Bouquet” is en route to CNN’s office as we speak.

No detail is being left to chance. Even the lecterns are made so they’ll look proportional in comparison to the candidate standing behind them:

By debate time the space underneath Hillary’s lectern will be stuffed full of Cepacol and a GPS display tracking the whereabouts of Gennifer Flowers.

If Hillary was unable to get a smaller lectern made in time for the debate, her campaign was prepared to borrow Mike Dukakis’s Podium-Buddy™ lift:

Open thread for debate discussion. Have at it!

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe