On Thursday night, CNN will host the first, and perhaps only, presidential debate of the 2024 race—a program that seems all but destined to become the highest-rated 90 minutes in the network’s 44-year history. It’s a momentous Ali vs. Frazier political rematch that may change the course of the American presidential race, and thus the course of history. But it’s also a unique and pivotal opportunity for the beleaguered network to reestablish itself, if only for a night, as a relevant force in a culture that has largely grown ambivalent to it. In any event, a lot for CNN C.E.O. Mark Thompson and his deputies Virginia Moseley and Amy Entelis to chew on during their dinner tonight at the Four Seasons in Atlanta, just a few blocks east of the debate studio.