Election debate: Hillary Clinton team probes Donald Trump for weaknesses ahead of crucial first TV contest

There are psychologists and ghostwriters, researchers and dirty-tricks experts. There are people with advice about what to wear, others who have expertise in political messaging.

What there is not, yet, is someone to play the role of Donald Trump.

This is reportedly the scene inside the campaign of Hillary Clinton, as it prepares for a crucial debate showdown with the freewheeling, boisterous New York tycoon.

A report in the New York Times said that while Mr Trump may be preferring to keep preparation for the three presidential debates to a minimum, Ms Clinton - typical for someone known to be obsessed with details - is leaving as little as possible to chance.

Her team is receiving advice and insight from everyone from Tony Schwartz, Mr Trump’s ghostwriter of the 1987 biography The Art of the Deal, psychology experts who are creating a personality profile of the Republican candidate, and people who have even been poring over the long history of controversies surrounding the Clintons and readying her for any questions about them.

National polls suggest Ms Clinton is anywhere up to nine points ahead of Mr Trump. Previous campaigns suggests debate tend to cement opinions already have of candidates.

But experts said that if the margin is narrower - and Mr Trump is certainly closer to Ms Clinton in several battleground states - then the clashes can be important.

“They are not make or break,” Robert Shapiro, Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, told The Independent. “But in close campaigns that can be important. And I think that Trump is close enough so it means the debate is important for him.”

The tradition of televised presidential debates dates back to 1960, when a sweating Richard Nixon failed to overcome the telegenic John F Kennedy. Since then, there have been many memorable moments, including Vice Presidential candidate Lloyd Bentson destroying Dan Quayle in 1988 - “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy,” and Ronald Reagan gently mocking his own age when he confronted Walter Mondale in their second debate in 1984.

Mr Trump, 70, has apparently told his advisers he wants to spend little time practising for the debates, the first of which is scheduled for New York - home territory for both candidates - on September 26. At a recent gathering at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, he declined the offer of conservative radio host Laura Ingraham to stand in for Ms Clinton in a mock debate, and instead asked about the likely topics that would be covered.

The property magnate apparently believes he can bluster and bully his way to success in the same way he defeated and demolished 16 Republican rivals during the Republican primary debates.

“I know who I am, and it got me here,” Mr Trump told the Times.

“I don’t want to present a false front. I mean, it’s possible we’ll do a mock debate, but I don’t see a real need.”

David Corn, Political Editor of Mother Jones magazine, said Ms Clinton is known as the “smartest kid in the class” and will not only be exhaustively prepared about her own policies, but also Mr Trump’s positions and controversies.

“She will be prepared to talk about detail, but also to prod him in ways that could score psychological wounds,” he said.

The danger for Ms Clinton, said Mr Corn, is if she fails to persuade people that she can competently answer questions that relate to matters of trust - such as her state department emails, the Clinton Foundation and her low favourability score with voters.

“If she can’t do that, she may lose some voters,” he said.

Within the Clinton campaign preparation, one of the topics of repeated discussion among officials and members of staff is who should stand in for Mr Trump during their mock-ups. The names that have been offered as possibilities are Congressman Joseph Crowley of New York, James Carville, Bill Clinton’s chief strategist in 1992, and Mark Cuban, another billionaire businessman.

Mr Corn had another suggestion as to who might stand in for the tycoon. He said: “I think that if they asked Trump, he’d do it.”