Chelsea Bailey
BBC News, Cleveland, Ohio

Back in February, Joe Biden’s bid for the Democratic nomination was on life support. The former vice-president had suffered crushing defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire, two states with overwhelmingly white populations which hold the first primary contests.

But a tidal wave of support from African Americans in South Carolina’s primary - where black voters are the majority - resuscitated his campaign and he never looked back.

Biden will need them again if he is to win the White House. Polls show about 85% of black voters plan to vote for Biden, compared to around 10% for Trump, but getting them to show up at the polls - or send in their mail-in ballots - will be key to victory.

Black turnout when Barack Obama won the White House was 65% in 2008 and 66% in 2012. In the last election, when Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump, it was just 59%. Turnout was even lower in several battleground states where the result was ultimately decided.

It’s no surprise Biden has turned to his old boss for help this time (watch Obama’s direct appeal to black voters here, external).

Many black Democrats I spoke to in South Carolina at the start of this campaign, especially younger voters, told me they were reluctant Biden supporters. But they all made clear that politicians had to earn their vote, not take them for granted.

Donald Trump has been spotted touring the debate venue on a final inspection that is common for candidates in these events - a last chance to familiarise themselves with the setting and to run through the choreography of the introductions before the eyes of the nation are turned on them.

Apparently the president is now waiting at the hotel across the street for the event to begin.

Meanwhile, his opponent Joe Biden has just landed in Cleveland and will soon be on his way to the debate hall for a similar last walk around. Hard to imagine just how both men must feel right now, but surely even these experienced campaigners must be feeling the pressure?

Image source, Getty Images

The year was 1960. Young Democratic Senator John F Kennedy was facing off against the sitting vice-president, Republican Richard Nixon in America's first televised presidential debate.

The story goes that most of the 70 million viewers felt the camera-ready Kennedy had won, while radio listeners thought it was the more-experienced, albeit less visually put-together, Nixon.

Kennedy did see a jump in the polls after the debate, even though we can't say for certain it was due to his small-screen prowess.

Republican President Ronald Reagan brought the zingers in 1984. This time debating challenger Walter Mondale, Reagan was asked about being the oldest president in history (he was then 73).

"I will not make age an issue of this campaign - I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience," he replied easily.

In 2000, Democratic candidate Al Gore's debate against George Bush may have cost him the presidency.

His sighing and eye-rolling during his Republican counterpart's responses came across as condescending to many voters (and made it into a Saturday Night Live comedy skit).

Image source, Getty Images

It's one of the biggest days in the US election season so far as President Donald Trump and former Vice-President Joe Biden prepare to square off in their much anticipated first debate.

Biden has warned that his opponent will try to goad him into a "brawl" and Trump has accused his "sleepy" foe of taking performance enhancing drugs.

Trump has landed in Cleveland, Ohio on Air Force One, the presidential jet, while Biden is aboard a brand new aircraft that has been emblazoned with his campaign logos.

Scroll back through our page, and find out more about the big news lines of the day, hear thoughts from voters and find primers on the big news topics that are likely to come up later.

The six topics chosen by the moderator tonight are:

• The Supreme Court
• Trump and Biden’s records
• The coronavirus pandemic
• Race protests and violence in cities
• Election integrity
• The economy

We'll be streaming the debate right here at 21:00 EST (which is 02:00 BST or 01:00 GMT).

We'll also have all the analysis, factchecking and commentary you need, so don't touch that dial.

Laura Trevelyan
BBC World News America presenter, Cleveland, Ohio

I catch up with top Biden ally Delaware Senator Chris Coons who will be in the debate hall tonight, one of just 20 guests brought by the Democratic nominee.

What can we expect tonight, I ask.

"Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots," he replies, referring to the children’s game where wind-up robots go at each other hammer and tongs.

Donald Trump is a reality TV performer, says the Senator, and Joe Biden’s job tonight is to let the American people know what his vision is for them.

President Trump's staffers met briefly with reporters before and after his flight into Cleveland, saying the president is in a "good mood" and feeling confident about his performance this evening.

They also shed a little more light on president's debate guest list. In addition to his adult children, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be in attendance, as well as professional mixed martial arts fighter Colby Covington.

Covington is a longtime Trump supporter, fond of donning a MAGA hat before fights and in interviews. After a bout victory earlier this month, Trump called Covington during a live, post-fight press conference, external to congratulate him.

Trump has also invited Alice Marie Johnson, the former federal inmate who was freed after the president commuted her life sentence in 2018. Her case gained national attention after celebrity Kim Kardashian West advocated on her behalf at the White House. Johnson spoke movingly about her experience at the Republican National Convention earlier this summer and a day later, Trump issued her a full pardon, external.

Aleem Maqbool
BBC North America correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Besides the pandemic, the US story of the summer was of protest. Some will remember it as the year Americans took to the streets to demand police reform and racial justice. Others will remember it as a summer of violence and lawlessness.

After a week of unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin following a police shooting, Donald Trump came to visit.

His supporters gathered along his route holding signs that said “Thank You Mr President”. One told me Trump was the only man who could restore law and order.

The president has repeatedly referred to those taking to the streets as "rioters" and "anarchists".

Some do not mind those tags.

“If riots are the language of the unheard [as Rev Martin Luther King Jr said], then maybe they should listen, but nothing has changed so we will keep coming out,” one activist in Portland told me.

Joe Biden says he is the man who is listening to the protesters and empathising with their cause, though he has also condemned violence.

But Trump and others will focus on what the former vice-president has and has not done to help actually bring about equality in America during the decades he has held elected office.

The president's Twitter archive often highlights a myriad of contradictions. And here's another one that has just resurfaced on social media, praising Joe Biden's debating technique in 2012. He definitely would not be saying the same today...

This was tweeted ahead of Biden's vice-presidential debate against Paul Ryan.

Image source, Getty Images

The NFL Super Bowl - the annual football championship event seen by more viewers than any other TV event in the US - typically draws in about 100m pairs of eyeballs.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump broke an audience record for their first debate with 84m viewers.

The two subsequent Trump-Clinton debates received 66.5m and 71.6m viewers respectively.

Could those numbers rise this year, as even more viewers tune in online to see the first Trump-Biden clash?

If you are looking to watch it yourself, don't forget that you can join us right here. Or watch on our news channels, BBC News or BBC World. Kick off is 21:00 EST (02:00 BST ot 01:00 GMT).

Laura Trevelyan
BBC World News America presenter, Cleveland, Ohio

The helicopters are whirring overhead, as the Secret Service patrol the perimeter of the Case Western reserve university in Cleveland. It’s less than 90 minutes until Joe Biden is due to arrive here for his pre-debate walk through, while President Trump has just landed in Ohio aboard Air Force One from Washington.

You can feel the anticipation building ahead of the first debate. Already, the Trump campaign is claiming Biden’s aides are reneging on an agreement to have an inspection for earpieces - a preview of the attacks Joe Biden will face tonight as the president tries to portray him as doddery, and somehow reliant on instructions from aides outside the debate hall.

Mr Biden and Kamala Harris - his running mate - have released their tax returns as they try to put pressure on Mr Trump in the wake of the bombshell report that he paid only $750 in taxes in 2016 and 2017. Mr Biden’s guests show he’s focusing on coronavirus: Kristin Urquiza, whose spoke powerfully at the Democratic convention about how her father died of Covid 19, will be in the hall.

President Donald Trump and his wife Melania are travelling on Air Force One to get to tonight's debate in Cleveland, Ohio, which begins in just over five hours.

Marianna Spring
Specialist disinformation and social media reporter

Tonight the candidates are preparing to talk about tax returns, the Supreme Court and their records in office. But millions have been tuning into a parallel conversation happening online - one filled with conspiracies and rumours.

Supporters on both sides have been accused of spreading disinformation, but the online conversation in recent days has been dominated by disinformation about postal voting - plugged again by President Trump.

“The Ballots being returned to States cannot be accurately counted,” he tweeted. Twitter added a correction: “Learn how voting by mail is safe and secure”. But the unfounded allegation is still being widely shared in Facebook groups.

But by far the most talked about conspiracy theory online has been QAnon - a conspiracy theory that claims President Trump is fighting a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles.

Today QAnon supporters have been amplifying an unfounded conspiracy theory that Joe Biden will try to wear a listening devices during the debate and is refusing to let the Trump campaign inspect his ears. Biden’s campaign have shot this allegation down.

What’s said during the debate could be used on social media to further fuel political disinformation. Remember to check the source of a claim. If it makes you emotional, pause before you share. Be aware of bias – and beware particularly divisive content.

Preparations are ongoing on the campus of medical centre Cleveland Clinic where the action takes place later.

Chairs in the debate hall are laden with signs instructing people to observe social distancing.

We have been told 80 to 100 people will attend, but the numbers haven't been finalised. All attendees will have been tested for Covid-19 and must wear masks.

And the customary handshake between candidates when they met on stage won't be happening.

Chelsea Bailey
BBC News, Cleveland, Ohio

"I’ve done more for the black community than any president since Abraham Lincoln."

That’s the bold claim President Trump has regularly made as part of his push to get African American voters to support him.

Last week, President Trump unveiled his “Platinum Plan” for black Americans, which promises to invest $500bn (£390bn) in black communities” and create three million new jobs.

This Reality Check piece takes a closer look at what exactly he’s done while in office.

At the Republican Party convention in August, there were a host of black speakers who refuted claims that the president is racist and urged black voters to abandon their traditional - and overwhelming - support for Democrats.

It doesn’t appear to be working. Polls currently show Joe Biden has roughly 85% of black support compared to just 10% for the president.

But Trump knows that in a tight race convincing black voters to either switch sides or stay home can make the difference in some battleground states.

In 2016, for example, black turnout in the pivotal swing state of Wisconsin was just 47% compared to 79% in 2012 when Barack Obama was running. Hillary Clinton lost to Trump there by 0.77% in total.

Jon Sopel
BBC North America Editor

What should we expect in Cleveland? A game-changer, or confirmation of what we already know?

Arguably, Joe Biden's task has been made a bit easier by the Trump campaign setting the bar so low for him. They've said the former vice-president is not all there, he's a bit senile, no longer able to form sentences: the lights are on, but no-one's at home.

It's certainly true that Biden at times does sound way off the pace and a little incoherent. He also as a child had a stammer, which affects the way he speaks.

But Donald Trump's sentences can also get lost in bewildering sub clauses and strangled syntax. The Trump campaign's demand that Biden should undergo a blood test to ensure he isn't taking performance enhancing drugs has, you won't be surprised to learn, been given short shrift by team Joe.

There will be an element of the debate that the French would call “un dialogue de sourds” - a conversation of the deaf. In other words, they will not be listening to each other.

It is one of the biggest days in the US election so far. President Donald Trump and Joe Biden are going head-to-head in their much-anticipated first debate. Two more will follow before the election on November 3, as well as a separate debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, Biden's running mate.

Scroll back through our page so far, and you can find out how the presidential candidates have been preparing, hear thoughts from voters, and find primers on the big news topics that are likely to come up tonight.

Fox News host Chris Wallace will moderate the 90-minute showdown, with six separate segments each debated for 15 minutes.

The subjects chosen by Wallace are:

• Supreme Court
• Trump and Biden’s records
• Coronavirus pandemic
• Race protests and violence in cities
• Election integrity
• Economy

We'll be streaming the debate right here at 21:00 EST (which is 02:00 BST or 01:00 GMT, for any politics-hungry nightowls).

We'll also have all the analysis, factchecking and commentary you need, so stick around.

Take a break from scrolling for a second and let’s chat! We know this political circus can get complicated - that’s why we’re here. If you’ve got questions about the US election, BBC journalists across the US want to answer them. Submit your questions here.

With just hours until the first debate and amid growing controversy over President Donald Trump's tax payments, Democratic nominee Joe Biden has released his own tax returns for last year.

Biden and his wife paid almost $300,000 (£233,000) in taxes for the year 2019 - a tax rate of around 30% on their income.

Biden's running mate Kamala Harris and her husband, meanwhile, paid $1.19m (£925,000) in tax on their adjusted gross income of $3.1m in the same year.

The news comes after a report by the New York Times said that Trump paid just $750 (£580) in federal income tax for the years 2016 and 2017, and none for 10 of the previous 15 years.

Trump, who denied the New York Times report, has repeatedly refused to share documents concerning his fortune and business. He is the first president since the 1970s not to make his tax returns public, though this is not required by law.

The two campaigns seem to be in an escalating war over pre-debate conditions. The latest request came from the Trump campaign, asking that both candidates submit to an "pre-debate inspection for electronic earpieces", external.

Biden's camp said "no", calling the request "absurd".

This follows a similarly bizarre request from President Trump that his rival take a blood test for "performance enhancing drugs", suggesting in a tweet that only drugs could explain Biden's more energetic debate performances. Biden again refused.

Trump spokesman Tim Murtaugh released a statement, external this afternoon saying that the Biden campaign's refusals mean they are "looking for any safety net they can find" and that the Trump campaign refused Biden's requests for multiple breaks during the debate, which "President Trump doesn't need".

The Biden campaign shot back that they never requested breaks.

Emily Maitlis
Newsnight Presenter

When he appears on Newsnight tonight, Philippe Reines won't be wearing his baggy blue suit, cufflinks and dress shoes. He has, he explained, already handed down his "Trump uniform" to Ron Klein, who is helping Joe Biden prepare for the TV debates this time around.

Philippe stepped into Trump's character to help Hillary Clinton get into the mood last time. History doesn't relate whether he practiced stalking her around the room. Or how that could work out this time with social distancing rules.

Image source, Getty Images

Philippe has said Trump is both "a bad debater and very difficult to debate".

What could he mean by that? For one, this president has showed himself happy to play the man/woman, not the ball. He loves getting personal. From the nicknames, to the family tensions - if the president can sniff out weakness or embarrassment, he’s happy to exploit it.

He also rarely defends himself - he likes to attack and put others on the defensive. Defending yourself uses up time and perhaps audience patience. Attack is sharper - and, yes, often funnier.

This time round, will the same tricks work? Trump has said that he prepares for the debate "every day by just doing what I'm doing".

But now he’s the incumbent - much as he prefers to play the role of challenger. And Philippe believes Trump has "difficulty articulating his vision of a second term". It's easier to rail against than to defend your own status quo.

So what does Joe Biden have to do? Should he get exorcised if there are personal digs? Does anger help win over voters? Or put them off? Can he afford to stick to the script if Donald Trump abandons his?

And how much time should he spend correcting a record? Or a falsehood - if the details of the case are too complicated to follow?

These are the kind of questions I'll be asking Philippe Reines tonight. We’re on air just a couple of hours before the debate itself begins in earnest.