Tonight’s second-screen debate, on your phone

When Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) walks onto the debate stage in Cleveland (OH), his campaign team will already have a series of social media ads pre-purchased to appear only to a select group of influential viewers: journalists. Sen Paul, who has a strong social media presence and fan base, will have 10 staff members dedicated to social media response, and will spend up to $50,000 in advertising in the space. As the debate unfolds, these promoted tweets, to the selected groups of journalists and others, will aim to rebut other candidate's responses, or expand on Paul's own with infographics, videos and more. "We've got lists of journalists who we will be promoting content to throughout the night, as well as obviously voters in the early states. There's a huge rapid response element," said Vincent Harris, who helps run the Kentucky senator's digital communications.

Whichever candidate lands the biggest punch against Donald Trump, social media will without question be a big winner come Aug 7, as what happens at the debate reverberates across Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, which is co-sponsoring the debate alongside Fox News. Between immediate rebuttals, surrogate support and targeted responses, the debate stage is just the first part of what is a multidimensional strategy for debate night. Campaigns will be leveraging social media to bolster their own messages (or attempt to tear down their rivals'), but the medium will also allow them to completely flood the zone beyond the few minutes each candidate will have on stage. Several campaigns have already bought ad placements on Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat. Nearly every major social media platform is planning a presence at the debate, and the fight will be over which tag line, gaffe or moment turns into the viral sensation that gets GIF-ed, Vined and Youtubed until election day in 2016.