>> i is going to be amazing and this debay te is going to be amazi amazing. >> si going to star a 8:00 a.m. and ends when donald trump runs ow of air. >> everybody is coming after me. >> and i don't worry much and what donald trump says. >> i believe he believes he can insul his way to if si. >> i have been watching this jeb bush and donald trump food fight and nobody cares. >> i don't want to change my stra ji a all, and i am going to be telling the tru. >> i want to mix i up, because i like to rumble. hello, i'm wolf blitzer, and it is 8:00 p.m. in jerusalem, and 10:00 a.m. in california and

hello to wherever you are. and the republican debate is only hours away, and the candidate candidates will be arriving this hour for the walk-through throughout the stage, and 11 candidates will meet in the main event starting at 8:00 p.m. tonight here on cnn. and lindsey graham, the senator from south carolina is there and he is getting a chance to feel the stage, if you will, and set the scene for us, athena. >> hi, wolf. yes, that is right. we saw senator graham pull up, a and this is where all of the candidates are pulling up, and walking past us, and we are asking them, how you are feeling, and if you are ready, and i asked that of senator graham what he did this morning to prepare. and he said, i got up, and took a shower and went on by. there you are, you can see the picture of him up there on the main debate stage, getting the lay of the land, and each of the candidates has a chance to stand

by the podium, and find out where the moderators are going to be sitting and get a sense of what to expect tonight at the main event. well, he is in the first event, but it is a first big event for both tiers of candidates, wolf. >> and both of the debates are major opportunities for all of the candidates still in the race for the republican presidential nomination. athena, and remind the viewers, because they can't bring any notes with them, and they have no cell phones, and they can go up there, and there is a piece of paper, and no notebook and they can write something, but no props to help them, right? >> no props at all, and that is part of what makes it so exciting, and so unpredictable, and the big question is not just will these individual candidates have a memorable moment on the positive side, but of course, in the debates past, you have had the candidates who have clearly lost their train of thought, and led to long pauses, and of course, the oops moment from now former candidate rick perry from the last cycle, and no, the candidates have to show up, and

be ready and going to have to have note paper that they can take the notes on, and of course, water, if they need it, but they can't bring anything with them to that stage tonight. wolf? >> all of the candidates will have a few minutes to walk around the stage and get a feel for what is going on, and do they have 15 minutes each, is that right? >> well, it is something like that. they are staggered so that you won't have the candidates facing off ahead of the face-offs. so there are staggered arrivals and each candidate has a several minutes' long window to koum here to check out the stage and check out where they are going to be standing and an early view of what it is going to be looking like, and the idea is not meant to be overlapping a head of time, and they will have to wait for the actual hour of the debate before they are all out there together. wolf. >> all right. athena, thank you very much, and our chief washington correspondent, and the anchor of "the lead" jake tapper is going

to be joined on the stage asking questions the conservative talk show host hugh hewitt, and the chief political correspondent dana bash and what are your expectations, da na, because i know that you and hugh and jake have been preparing and preparing and preparing. >> well, that at the end of the time here that the republican vo voters will have a much better sense of where the candidates stand and who they are and what they stand for. >> and this is a debate, hugh, and it is not a conversation or interview, and it is a debate, and let the candidates show where they the disagree on the sensitive issues. >> yes, and in the first debate they touched gloves, bow the night, going after it, and it is an opportunity to put in the republicans' minds, the differences between them. >> and some of the candidates go after the questioners as you

know, and they are not happy with the questions, and they believe that the questions are unfair, and all of you are bracing yourselves for that. >> and you don't know what that is like at all? >> no. and president reagan and we are at the library and it is a great honor to be here, and i don't believe it is going to happen with the scene that cnn has constructed with the air force one because it is adding some gravitas to it, and if they go after jake or dana or i, they will have to go after each other, and they need to do that. >> and it is about them at the end of the day and not about us. it is about them. >> and some of the candidates don't like the mainstream media, and they feel they can score political points among the more kconservative supporters with that. >> and they will get pushback, because i have interviewed all of them, and except senator

paul, and john kasich likes to punch back at me, because he is my own state governor and he likes to pushback and it is not just mainstream media, but newt gingrich showed value in that in the last cycle, and soy expect down the road, but not tonight, tonight, they are have to distinguish themselves from each other, and i suspect that is what is going to be happening. >> and it is much more intimate auditorium, and 500 tonight as opposed to thousands in cleveland in the first debate, and air force one behind the podium, and the ronald reagan presidential library and it does set a tone. >> yes, i was at the first debate in cleveland and it was fascinating, but it was a large venue, as we were talking about yesterday, and the arena where lebron james plays, and it felt that way, and they tried to make it intimate, but only so much to do when you have a big place, and this is a stage that was literally built from nothing. it is like 45 feet in the air, and it is really special to be up right next to the plane that

president reagan flew on and others before him, and you are absolutely right about the feel and the vibe in there and it is quite different than in cleveland. >> we don't want one kind of vibe, because we are in earthquake territory, and we are out there, and i am looking at the platform, and i am thinkingings if we are above 6.0, we are in trouble. >> it is the first thing that you thought of living ow here. and something i did not think of. >> and in the first debate rick santorum, bobby jindal, george pataki and senator lindsey graham, and they have much more air time, because it is four as opposed to 11 candidates there on the stage, and they have to do something to break out. and i asked senator graham why he was so sad, and he said, because nobody was there, and it was very funny, so i believe that the crowd will get him much

more energy, and somebody is going to get some ticket off of the stage and maybe more than one, but somebody will get a ticket off of the stage out of the preliminary stage, and they are going to be looking for air time. >> and the last time for all of them in the first stage with the exception of rick perry who won't be here now, and they had not done a presidential debate before, and they had been in public service, and done it on the state level, but not at this level, and so they didn't know what to expect and now the first one is over, a nd they know wha to expect and i can't imagine that they have not modified how to approach it based on that. >> and 3 of the 4 candidates based on the first, pataki, jindal, and lindsey graham, and not rick santorum so much, but those three have gone after donald trump in the recent weeks, and slammed him, and george pataki, the former governor of new york said he is not ready to be president, and he could not vote for him if he

were the republican presidential nominee, and bobby jindal refused to tell me that he would vote for him if he were the nominee, and they are going to be going after trump, but he is not going to be going after him. >> and i expect that donald trump is going to be watching and it is going to be going to get his juices going. and it is shock iing that as a conservative that going to be coming up, and i am sure that is going to be shocking for the other candidates because in the undercard, you will set up the issues that happen in the second debate, and it is not without significance what any of them say, and i assume that all of the candidates will be saying. >> and let me correct when you said senator santorum, and of course, senator santorum did debate on the big stage and won iowa last time around and on senator santorum, he is somebody who is not all that thrilled with the attention that donald trump is getting and i know that talking to him that he is eager to talk about the issues that i

divide the republicans. >> they will be forceful and assertive in making the points, and some of that, the sound bites of the first debate could be used to play in the second debate, right? >> yes, referred to if nothing else. >> yes. good lucko both of you tonight. >> thank you, wolf. >> and tonight, we will countdown to the debate, including looking at the effect of donald trump to the republican party. is he alienating voters or drawing in people who would not get involved. we will talk about that and later, senator rand paul is promising the go after donald trump in a big way. and senator rand paul is going to be joining me here at the ronald reagan library in simi valley here at this hour. we stop arthritis pain,

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the wisconsin governor scott walker arrived here at the ronald ronald reagan presidential library and you can see him getting out of the vehicle there, and walking inside and he is going to be getting a tour of the stage area, and the podium and getting a feeling of what is going through there. all of the candidates have an opportunity, 10 or 15 minutes each to check out the room and see the audience and about 500 guests will be inside, and a much smaller setting than the first presidential debate at the basketball arena in cleveland and this is a much more intimate setting with air force one in the background. and donald trump meantime stood on the deck of the battleship "uss iowa" last night to give what he billed as the national security speech, but it was noticeably lacking on the specifics. >> and nobody is going to mess with us, and that i can tell

you, and we will make the country so great, and we are going to be making it so strong, and we will make it powerful, and we will rebuild the military and make it it so strong. and you are going to be looking around and remember who the people are who are here, because we are doing something special, and this is a movement, and we are going to be making the country great again, and believe me, we will make the country great again. >> and no specific mention of isis, syria, terrorism, and lots of support from the u.s. military veterans. and joining us is the cnn political analyst ron brownstein, and the former michigan governor jennifer granholm, and mike rogers who is our cnn commentator and also jeffrey lord who is a trump supporter, and he said it would be a national security speech, but it was not. >> and i'm on the grill, but he is doing message, message, message, and as we get into the

debate, what is the message here, and you get it here in terms of what ronald reagan would call peace through strength, but i will recall here at the ronald reagan library, he, himself, was criticized not only as a candidate, but also through the strobe talbot who wrote this in 1984 said that he doesn't know what nuclear throw weight weights are, and doesn't know this or that, and et cetera, and things worked out differently. >> and reagan the had been a two-term governor and years of radio broadcasts to lay out the views -- and i can't believe i am saying this, but in a 1980 campaign of the radio broadcasts that laid out a detailed view of the domestic and international viewpoints which is a lot more to go through than what donald

trump has said. >> and well, frankly, i think that ronald reagan would be rolling over, and trump reminded me of sarah palin in foreign policy. when you don't say anything, and how do you get up here on the debate stage and not say anything? it is like, you know, punching an airball or maybe punching the hairball, i don't know -- sorry, sorry. >> oh, oh. >> and by the way, i will remind everybody what they are seeing right now is scott walker the wisconsin governor on the stage over there, getting a little flavor for the podium, and flavor for what is anticipated later, and all of the candidates have this walk-through and it is very important for them to know what is going on and where the glass of water is going to be and the notebook for them to jot the notes, and as we said, they can't bring any notes or props or cell phone or anything along those lines. and what happened to scott

walker, kongressman? because he was doing very well? >> well, he just went down, down, and the traction of the dealing with the unions and that was a substantive issue to deal with the year before the election, and he lost ground and the record and the charisma that he brought to the race, there is a gap, and you make that combination of all of those thing, and you will see the numbers. >> i i would say that scott walker lost the balance. as he entered the race, the unique asset is that he could appeal to both the business wing to the party, and the evangelical and the populist party and he steered to the evangelical wing and went right to say that he would seek a

constitutional amendment to overturn the gay marriage amendment, and then after walker had positioned himself in a way that was to the more center right voters of john kasich and marco rubio are targeting. >> and he is layle bit of the one-hit-wonder can, and playing to smaller, and smaller audiences and the one hit that he thought would be bashing the union, and okay, we have heard about it now, and now, how do you build the middle class, and one subject. >> and the strength is build ing the economy, and suddenly, anybody who has held public office with donald trump has a problem on their hands. >> and this strength of going after the evangelical voters after they had several candidates working hard in iowa and new hampshire and he had a late start. >> and at love the b t a lot o

who looked at overturning the gay marriage amendment in 2016 sat and looked, is this really what we want to look at. >> that is why they have a busine businessman leading the race. >> and so now, scott walker is going to give a little feeling of what is going to be on the stage there, and don't go too far away, and we will have more coverage here, and how do you prepare for a debate with donald tru trump, and the top tier candidates, and what do they need to do to steal some of the spotlight back? that is next.

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you are looking at live pictures are there at the ronald reagan presidential library. and there is scott walker there looking at the podium where he will be tonight, and where all of the 11 prime time candidates will take the stage to debate the major issues on the campaign right now, and national security issues, domestic issues, and all kinds of good stuff, and scott walker has major problems right now as the numbers have gone do down, but all of the candidates will have a feeling of the stage, and that is coming up where all of the candidates will see them, and let's discuss what is going on, and once again, we will be joined by jeff zeleny

who is with me at the ronald reagan presidential library and also jennifer granholm who helped former vice president joe biden help with his debate against sarah palin, and jeff lord who is a trump supporter and consul and the, and also consultant alex castellanos, and you have been getting important information about what jeb bush needs to do, and he was the presumed front-runner not that long ago, but trump and ben carson have been running ahead of him. >> yes, the stakes are high for jeb bush, and he started out with a hike with jeb bush, jr., and jebby, he is known, and they went on a hike, and that is to pushback on the fact that he is low energy and not up for the fight, and he is looking athletic and robust and he has lost weight throughout the campaign, and he is in a strong fighting shape tonight. and one thing that jeb bush is not going to to be doing is

suddenly angry or hot, and he is going to be putting forward the tax plan and the plan to fight isis and look like the commander in chief throughout. >> and one thing is the republican senator marco rubio is arriving, and he is going to be speaking to athena. >> what is your goal here? >> introduce people, and whatly do if they give me the chance to be president, and i believe that the country can be greater than the history has been, and we have to change the way we are doing it. >> and the breakthrough and the bump in the polls? >> well, we will do the best we can, and tonight won't decide the election. thank you. >> all right. good luck. that is interesting. >> all right. that is marco rubio going to do the walk-through, and alex, marco rubio, and who has a better chance of winning the republican presidential nomination, two guys from

florida, jeb bush or marco rubio. >> that is right, wolf. i couldn't agree more [ laughter ] in the last debate we met the candidates, and tonight, we want to see the president, and somebody who could be the commander in chief in a world fraught with problems, and so a more mature approach from the candidates, but both jeb and rubio do occupy the same lane, and they are the future of the republican party kacandidates a the optimistic candidates and the candidates who say that we don't have to settle for the way that things are now and the brighter future ahead. >> i don't know if the trump sup potters would agree that they are the future of the party candidates. >> certainly. >> and don't they all think they ar are. >> well, some are more. >> and this is what was said about ronald reagan in the day that he was too extreme, and some of the polls said that he was losing to jimmy carter by 30

points, and i thought that the marco rubio comment was interesting is because what he is saying here is whatever happen happens, i'm sticking in this, and i am not going to be pushed out. >> don't they always say that? >> well, they always say it, but i mean that there is going to be some pressure on people after tonight for their performance. >> and who is going to be dropping out next? >> well, i wish i had the answer to that, wolf, and i could make some money. >> and marco signaled he is in it for the long haul and he is not going to be taking direct shots at donald trump tonight. >> and the best announcement speech that any republican candidate has given so far is marco rubio comparing himself to hillary clinton saying that yesterday's candidate announced she was going to run for president to take us back to yesterday, and yesterday is over, and we are never going back, and we are going to be making america great again. >> and i spent a lot of time with the clinton campaign, and if marco rubio would break out

that is one person who worries them because of the contrast of the future and the past, and yes, they believe he is extreme, and he has a lean and mean campaign and he can go longer than others, because the overhead is lower, and he can go longer. >> and there is marco rubio the sen or the from florida, and he is behind the podium over there where he is going to be in the prime time debate tonight, and there is a lot going on, and i must say behind the scenes here at the ronald reagan presidential library, and 11 candidates in the prime time debate and the second tier debate that starts at 6:00 p.m., and four presidential candidates will have a feeling of the room here, and it is a much more intimate room than the first debate where there were thousands of people in the audience and this one has 500 people in the audience, and it is going to be in the austere setting here, if you will, right behind air force one. it is going to have an impact, don't you believe, jennifer? >> well, the setting lends itself to such gravitas, but the

circumstances mean that each of the candidates that is not donald trump has to want to see somebody taking him down, and now sh now, if they sit back and watch the others do it, they will be accused of wimps. if they step up, they are a risk of being hit back at donald trump and for them, this is a high stakes' game, and this is what people want to see candidates who are willing to punch a little bit and see a little by of a difference. >> well, they are all -- >> but you can't overstep. >> not in this setting. >> and they are all going to be punching, but they are going to be trying to punch against hillary clinton, and they are going to be talking about president obama, but then they will mention obama/clinton almost in the same breath. that is the strategy. >> yes. and that is a wasted opportunity for them, don't you think? >> no, i think they have to mention it. we will be getting it on in the future here, and someone on the stage is going to be the republican no, ma'minee, and so

do. >> and in terms of the position right now, and don't you believe it is a wasted opportunity if they only attack hillary clinton and don't try to take the others on? >> and another way to look at it is that this is not a friendly environment for donald trump. this is part of the establishment's process to pick a nominee, and this is a whole process designed by tin sooirds for the insiders, and trump does better as the out soosider spea to the large crowd. i would not expect trump to do particularly well tonight. >> and he is at the ultimate outsider's library tonight. >> well, they are all going to be going after hillary clinton and we will get her tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. eastern in the situation room as we talk to her and what is happening with theow night when we will get her reaction. right now, the candidates are

getting set for the debate. i've spoken of the shining city all my political life. god blessed and teeming with people of all kinds... living in harmony and peace. trump: they're bringing crime. they're rapists. if i am elected they're... going to be out of there day one. reporter: do you think birth right citizenship should be ended? walker: yeah, absolutely. cruz: i think we should end birth right citizenship trump: i will build a great, great wall... in my mind it was a tall proud city built of... rocks stronger than oceans.

and if there had to be city walls... the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. that's how i saw it and see it still.

mike huckabee, the former arkansas governor has just arrived here at the ronald reagan presidential library and you can see him getting out of the car and welcomed by officials including john highbush, the president of the ronald reagan library foundation and commission, and this is athena jones questioning him as he arrive ss at the library. let's listen in. >> and john, it is good to see you, and i would like to see that you are 100% now. >> and like you, i lost weight. >> and here is how you want to get it done. and you don't want to write a book about that. >> yes, the long way.

>> it is great to see you here. and hello, little girl, how are you? >> governor huckabee, athena jones from cnn. >> and why would cnn be here by the way? i cannot imagine. >> how are you? are you ready for the big event? >> well, we will be seeing in about a few hours. >> and what do you do to prepare? >> i don't watch any television and on gameday, i don't get my head cluttered up with the stuff that you say, and the pre-game analysis and focus on the game and not what people are saying it is going to be. >> and otherwise you will psyche yourself out, and what is the goal the night? >> to keep from having one of the moments that sends me back home with no place to go tomorrow. >> and so you don't want to mess up. and you think that you will be able to break through? >> well, it depends upon the time that you give me.

and the people on the stage, and keep it fair and divide the time up equally and don't make it a one or two candidate show, then i have a real shot, and all of us have to be concerned that it is like the tv coverage has been like the past few weeks and so unbelievably centered on one candidate, and that is going to be hard for us, and so hopefully, everybody is going to be playing it as a straight debate and really give every candidate the opportunity to get the message out. >> well, we are looking forward to hearing from you. thanks. >> all right. >> so there he is, mike huckabee, outside a few minutes ago and now he is inside of the hall, and these are live picture s, and he is going to be getting a taste of what he is anticipating standing behind the podium, and see what is going on, and look behind the audience and see where the moderator jake tapper is going to be sitting, and hugh hewitt, and they will be asking questions as well, and get a little sense of the important room. mike huckabee did really, really well in 2008 and not well enough and did not get the nomination,

but he won several important states, and jeff zeleny, you remember that campaign well at the time, and he did not run in 2012, but now he is are running again. >> he is running again now, and he, of course, won the iowa caucuses, and came from nowhere really, and certainly shocked, you know, john mccain and others, but this is a different moment for governor huckabee, because he is trying to find his lane and is so much more competition from ted cruz and rand paul and others not around then, a nd this is a different time for him, and governor huckabee is going to be there for the long haul, because he has a shoestring campaign, and it is hard to know how he is going to be competing with people like ben carson and they weren't around then and some of the new faces. >> and one of the mysteries is why somebody like huckabee who is a governor and who can talk economics and an optimistic guy has narrowed to the evangelical lane when he can tell a much more appealing story across the

lanes. >> and he is amazing to me, because he is likable guy, and plays in a band, and we served together, and he is one of my favorite governor pals, and i have been surprised at how he has hued to a narrow part of the base when he could have been much better. >> and one thing that i want to get your thought on this, jeffrey, because you a donald trump supporter, and he is a celebrity and the tv experience and mike huckabee had a tv show many years after losing after 2008 on fox news, and he is a tv star and john kasich had a tv show, and some lists, and rick santorum was a fox news contribut contributor, and ben carson and these guys, and not just like trump is not the only one in other words who has at lot of tv experience, andt a lot of the republican candidates have seen them on tv for a while. >> they need to be cnn guys,

right? >> and the "apprentice" with the entertainment nature and the showmanship is different from being a talk news commentator or even a fox news host like john kasich was, and different things required of you, and you are pitching to a different audience, et cetera, although, i liked the dig at cnn for all of the hours of coverage of rick santorum and how he thinks that it is so unfair, and you know -- >> you should remember that the candidates need to remember that it is their job to be interesting, and it is their job to be presidential and relevant. and it is our job to cover it. >> and then huckabee goes and he does that whole thing with kim davis forcing the rest of the field to respond to that and that is pushing everything, again, to the right, remind iin people that the presidential spate are very, very conservative. >> yes, hold your thoughts, and including senator rand paul of kentucky is standing by and he

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already ti. there is mike huckabee, the former arkansas governor up on the stage right now getting a feel for the room as all of the other candidates have been invited to do, and each of them get 10 or 15 minutes to stand there and see where the audience is going to be seated and the moderators and the questioners and air force one behind him, and there he is mike huckabee. and meanwhile, senator rand paul warmed up at a local shooting range here in california. >> well, take the left hand out here for more control, and i want you to lean more into it like a more forward aggressive

stance, and put it on the shoulder, and you can see the red triangle. >> yes, it is on the center. >> and take a shot at the tax bill. >> and he took a shot the tax code with an array of weapon, and back in july, the paul cam can pain res-- the paul campaig ripped up 70,000 pages of the tax code with a woodchippers and also with a chainsaw. and later tonight in the debate, it is looking like he is going to be targeting donald trump. senator paul says that donald trump deserves both barrels, and he says, quote, we want everyone in the whole country to know that he is a fake conservative. the kentucky senator rand paul is with me here at the reagan library, and strong words, and explain why he is a fake conservative in your view.

>> well, the fact that he is for obama care, and the stimulus package that the president was for and the bailout of the banks and these are ting thises that got me motivated to run for office, and because i was opposed to them, and donald trump was in favor of them, and the biggest thing for the conservatives that makes him not a kon ser va istive is that he is for the governor to be used eminent domain to take the property from the small property o owners to use for the government and larger corporations, and there is nobody who wants the government to use eminent domain. >> so you are thinking that wow were softer on him, and now you want to be harsher. >> yes, a signal to him that we are coming to compete, and to compete for the president e si, the you have to be debating for ideas and you can't say you are stupid and look at that face, and it is sophomoric, and ultimately the people in america want to know the issues and they want to know if he is

conservative and on a host of issues, you can't say he is conservative. >> and if you attack him. >> well, he is going to insult my appearance, and that is not enough. and if you ask, well, i would tell those chinese -- and what policy would krou change currently, and conservatives once they hear that he is for the higher tax, and obama care, and using the eminent domain, they are going to be cringing at that, but people cringe at that. >> i've watched donald trump over the years. i think what he's probably going to say once you go after him, is, you're a loser, senator. you're at 1%, 2%, 3%, you're barely registering. i'm at tri-%, 40%. the american people love me, hate you. something like that. >> i know. but i guess the question is, i really have a greater faith in the american people that really a diatribe from junior high school person is really not enough to really convince people to say, oh, he should be

president. in fact, it should be the opposite. i've taken to telling audiences, do you want somebody in charge of the nuclear arsenal whose biggest attribute is they can call somebody name snz i think ultimately we'll get beyond it. i'm hoping tonight and cnn has said they want to get into the substance of issues. i hope that's where we go. >> why is he doing so well? >> people are unhappy. i ran for office because i was one of those unhappy people. unhappy at washington. we accumulate debt at a million dollars a minute. sure, i'm unhappy also. i guess the difference is there's unhappy with substantive proposals for making government smaller, and then there's unhappy tw with i'm not so sure that trump may make government bigger because he seems to want more power for himself because he's all-powerful and thinks he can fix all problems because of this sort of narcissistic belief in himself. but i think really most conservatives want government to be smaller. i've pledged as president to give power back to the states and people and to make the

presidency actually a smaller office, not a bigger office. >> how do you get your numbers to go up? >> we hope with the debate there will beite a few people watching tonight and ultimately we hope people look and scratch beyond the surface to say, who would be best to make government smaller? who would be best to get rid of the tax code and replace it with añi >> it sounds to me like you don't think donald trump is qualified to be president of the united states. corrects me if i'm wrong. >> i don't think so. we're seeing things that are sophomore ick, i think they're silly. i just don't see anything serious about what he's proposing. when he says mexicans will pay for the wall and then he says he's going to be tough and he's so smart because he's so rich, i don't think they always equate with each other. i think if he wants to prove to us that he's so smart, it's not

because he's rich. what are the proposals he has? what are the proposals he has more america? i'm more than happy going one-on-one and let's have a debate. >> if he's the republican nominee, could you see yourself voting for xdhim? >> there are some candidates i would be less enthusiastic to support. even if i were to win with 60%, i need the other 40% who disagree was me. the winner may have 20%, 30%, maybe going through the primaries. i won't be excited about donald trul p. i think he would cause our party to be the biggest loss since 1964. i won't be enthusiastic before, but i've said he would support the nominee. >> you would actually not just support but vote for donald trump, go into the voting booth and push the lever, that he should be the next president. >> the polling booth is still secret. i've said i'll support the nominee and i will. i'm going to do everything possible within my power over

the next six months to make sure he's not the nominee. i think did would be a disaster for the country. >> any last-minute thing you're doing before the debate? they're all top secret. >> did you have fun shooting that this morning? >> that was fun ff senator, thanks so much. thanks for join\ing us. that's it for me. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." for our international viewers, "amanpour" is next. for the rest of us, "newsroom with brooke baldwin" will start right after a quick break.

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here we go. we are live here at the ronald reagan presidential library in simi county, california. i'm brooke baldwin, thrilled to be here, hours away from the main event where history will be made this evening. ten men and one woman will take one another on in the cnn republican presidential debate. and some of them right now are arriving on the scene. they're walking around our staging area, seeing how close these podiums are to one another, seeing how incredibly intimate this sven eye is. you are just about ten feet away from those candidates in the front row. george pataki is touring the stage. they're getting their turns. he just talked to my colleague asena jones. here's what the governor just said. >> what id you do to prepare