Rove: Trump, not Biden, has more 'difficult' challenge in first presidential debate

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The race for the White House is ‘tightening’: Rove

Karl Rove, former senior adviser to G.W. Bush, provides insight into the 2020 presidential election, protests and Bloomberg allegedly buying votes.

Joe Biden has a "pretty simple mission" going into the first presidential debate against President Trump, Fox News contributor Karl Rove explained Wednesday on "Fox & Friends."

The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates on Tuesday announced the issues that the moderator of the first debate -- "Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace -- has selected as topics for the first 2020 general election debate.

The Democratic presidential nominee and Trump will spar on their records, the Supreme Court, the coronavirus pandemic, economy, race and violence in major cities, and the integrity of the election.

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"Each candidate will lay out the narrative of their campaign, rationale on why you ought to vote for them," Rove said, adding, "The president's frankly is more difficult to do because has to both explain what he's done ... what he wants to do," and "what's the next act that's in him."

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and President Trump will face off in the first presidential debate Tuesday, Sept. 29, moderated by "Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace. (AP)

After all that, Rove added, Trump needs to contrast it with Biden.

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"He's got to say, you know what I’ve done on the economy, you feel it in your bones, here are the next concrete steps I want to do to strengthen our economy in the future and look at all these bad things that will demolish our prosperity that Joe Biden wants to do, for example," Rove noted.

"Biden, on the other hand, he's got a pretty simple mission," he said.

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"If Donald Trump bungled coronavirus response and I’m the normal Democrat, don’t be afraid of me if you’re sort of a Republican in the suburbs and are thinking about doing something other than voting Republican. A little bit easier to do, but we'll see how well he carries it off," Rove said.

As the race continues to tighten nationally in polls, Rove suggested the Biden campaign needs to let the former vice president speak more off-script and reach out to moderates if he wants to make up for any lost ground.

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Biden told reporters Wednesday that he "started to prepare but I haven't gotten into it really heavily" but will begin to Thursday.

The first debate between the former vice president and the GOP incumbent in the White House will take place Tuesday, Sept. 29, at Case Western University and the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.