Barry Soper: Las Vegas is perfect venue for US presidential showdown

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, right, speaks as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump listens during the second presidential debate. Photo / AP

Opinion

It seems entirely appropriate that the final American presidential debate is held in Las Vegas where you can be married in 5 minutes and divorced in 30 seconds.

It's the city that boasts the 64-storey Trump Hotel, the tallest building in the tinsel town, that gleams as the desert sun bounces off the windows that are gilded with 24 carat gold - a monument to excess, not unlike the orange owner.

Unlike their last outing there'll be no red jersey Ken Bones' moments.

This will be moderated by a tough talking Fox News anchor who'll ask his own questions, and we're told will show zero tolerance for shenanigans, which means he'll probably be more on edge than the candidates.

Regardless of his performance, Trump claims the election's rigged against him, accusing the media of bias.

That saw Barack Obama accusing him of whining before the game is even over, saying his remarks are unprecedented and a threat to American democracy.

The last debate saw Trump sort of apologising for his locker room talk about what he does to women but declaring that he has great respect for the fairer sex, adding no one has greater respect than he does - which, given his utterances, defies logic.

But it's what they say and what they've said that makes their appearances theatric, in a Real Housewives of Auckland way, and salacious, which does little for the standing of the serious job they're after.

In an email message from Michelle Obama on the eve of the debate, she told me how proud she was to vote for Hillary, adding that would be true no matter who she was facing in this election.

Yeah, when "Hills" was facing her hubby Barack, she was telling a very different story.

She said then of Clinton that "if you can't run your own house, then you certainly can't run the White House", in a clear reference to her wayward hubby Bill.

And back then Barack wasn't much better either when it came to Clinton, saying in a campaign ad, that she'll say anything but change nothing.

Ouch, that sounds like a line directly from the uncontrolled mouth of Trump.

But that was then and this is now and in Las Vegas it's showtime and sparks are sure to fly when they address the topic of their fitness to become the so called Leader of the Free World.