The man Democrats call to prepare for debate night

Playbook Deep Dive

Bob Bauer is President Joe Biden’s personal lawyer and was general counsel to both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. But over the last three decades, he’s developed another specialty practice: playing the role of his candidate’s rival during debate prep.

Bauer has helped Democratic candidates prepare for debates by playing the likes of Bernie Sanders, Al Gore, and Donald Trump. He’s also been involved with efforts to reform the process and production of presidential debates themselves.

So with the first presidential debate less than one week away, and both Biden and Trump cramming to prepare for it, Bauer is joining the show to preview the event, as well as to discuss his new book, “The Unraveling: Reflections on Politics without Ethics and Democracy in Crisis”.

Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.
Bob Bauer is a lawyer for President Biden and a veteran Democratic debate coach.
Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio.
Alex Keeney is a senior producer for POLITICO audio.

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