i don't want to do spoilers for this year. but, you know, someone an expert in their field, he's going to ask a thousand questions. >> i met him a couple times, super smart, super kind. very not hollywood at all. can i ask you something? >> yes. >> i've been so many different things before i was a -- 28 years in this business. but i was a waitress and i used to have waitressing dreams where i would sort of wake up in a cold sweat with messes all over the place. do you ever have doug stanfor dreams? >> i had the same nightmares you had. i probably wasn't as good a waiter as you were a waitress. >> trust me, i was fired many times. >> you have the actor nightmares a lot. you're on a stage, doing a play is where it mostly happens. >> oh. >> and you're on stage and you don't know what to say. >> i just hope you're not killing people in your dreams,

my friend. because i don't know that anybody -- >> i don't have those type creams. >> it's great to see you. we've hung out in california before. it's nice to see you up here onset. >> that was a fun night we had. >> don't -- we're live. it was totally fun. nothing happened -- out in the open in public. michael kelly, i look forward -- i haven't seen the rest of the season. appreciate it. thank you, everyone, for watching. wolf blitzer starts right now. >> hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. on the beautiful campus at the university of miami. 6:00 p.m. in london. 8:00 p.m. in jerusalem. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. i want to get right to a hillary clinton rally in florida, in tampa right now. i want to listen in briefly to the former secretary of state. >> you know, a high-speed rail system is from tampa to orlando

would be amazing! for this area. i mean, that would -- that would increase tourism. it would increase commerce. it would increase the opportunity for people to go quickly back and forth. it makes absolutely no sense, especially when we know that we're going to have to do high-speed rail if we're going to have a competitive economy in the 21st century. and if we're going to do more to fight climate change by getting more cars off the road and more passengers into high-speed rail. so if i'm fortunate enough to be your president, we're going back to the drawing boards, and we're going to look for ways to build the port, to build high-speed rail, and we're going to have to pay attention to what's happening with the widening of

the panama canal. that may seem far away. but as bigger and bigger ships go through, we're going to have to make sure this port is ready to receive them. that's also an investment in infrastructure. now, you know, some people say, well, you know, i mean, there she goes, talking about infrastructure again. and it's true. right? the reason we were dominant in the 20th century, included having great infrastructure. now our roads, our bridges, our tunnels, our ports, our airports, we're falling behind. you're making some improvements to the airport here in tampa. but a lot of other places are really falling apart. it is not possible to remain economically competitive in a very, very competitive global economy if we don't have the infrastructure we need to move

people and goods quickly from place to place. so right here in tampa, in front of -- >> we're going to continue to watch hillary clinton in tampa. she's at a rally there. she had a tough debate last night with bernie sanders. full coverage of that coming up. right now, i want to get to the republican presidential candidates. they are clearly gearing up for their own critical showdown tonight right here on cnn. take a look at these live pictures from inside the debate hall on the campus of the university of miami. the final preparations under way. the candidates are set to arrive, beginning next hour to tour the stage and the stakes clearly couldn't be higher for all of these republican presidential candidates. this is the final debate before the next super tuesday with huge winner take all primary scheduled in florida and ohio and three other states. the three other states being illinois, missouri and north carolina. all set to vote. a total of 367 delegates up for

grabs. the republican front runner, donald trump, he's now likening the race to a boxing match, saying victories in ohio and florida would give him the knockout blow to capture the republican presidential nomination. so the question becomes what will the other three candidates on that stage do to try and slow trump's momentum? for his part, trump seems to be looking for a less raucous debate than the previous ones have been. >> it's going to be softer, but i'll be ready. and we have been playing the game for a long time. these debates to me are getting very boring, if you want to know the truth. >> with me from inside the debate hall right now, cnn political reporter, sara murray. based on what you have seen, what you have been hearing, will we in fact see a shift in the tone of tonight's debate, or should we prepare for more fireworks? >> reporter: well, donald trump says he wants a softer debate and i think he wants to try harder to appear presidential and to appear above the fray. but wolf, i think there are certainly going to be fireworks.

ted cruz is trying to turn this into a two-man race with donald trump. and you don't do that without sparring a little bit. and i think marco rubio, even though he's kind of expressed regret for how he's gone at trump recently, still wants to draw contrast with the front runner on policy and draw out the fact that donald trump has left out a lot of specifics. i think we will still see plenty of candidates mixing it up on this stage tonight, wolf. >> a lot of the observers agree, as you know, sara, the marco rubio must win florida next tuesday in order to stay in the race. so the "wall street journal" says rubio will not air any television ad in florida this week. but the super pac is spending money against kasich, for example, here in florida. what does that tell you? >> reporter: right, that's interesting, wolf. who is on the airwaves here in florida. they're not just going up against donald trump. they're going after kasich and what that tells you is the race here is so close that they need to peel away these potential kasich supporters. they need to keep a lid on the ohio governor in order to skate

above donald trump. obviously, that's not where you want to be when you are the home state senator and when you have pinned all your hopes in your presidential campaign on this state. this is a must-win for marco rubio. he has said it. his donors are saying it. he can't afford to be this close in this race. they still feel difficult they're going to pull it out here and we'll know on the 15th, wolf. >> we certainly will. that's next tuesday. all right, sara, thank you. the next week will be critical for the republican presidential contenders going forward. it could make or break some of these political campaigns. let's discuss all the late-breaking developments with our panel. joined by scottie nell hughes, chief political correspondent and ron nehring, national spokesperson for the ted cruz campaign. and cnn political correspond tater, anna navarro. quickly on rubio, i know you're friendly with rubio. what are you hearing as far as his campaign is concerned? >> you know, you're actually

hearing very little in the last two days. i've been surprised by the eerie silence from them. but they just got good news today. there's a univision and "washington poll" that came out that has this as a much closer race than other polls are indicating. it has it as a seven-point difference between trump and him with trump leading. i think marco banked a lot of votes with the organization he has on early vote and absentee ballots, which matters a lot in florida. i think marco needs to have a very good debate font. and we have seen after the new hampshire debate where, remember, chris christie went after him like a buzz saw. we saw marco come out in south carolina and revive, rebound. he's capable of doing it. he can be an excellent debater. he needs to do it tonight, because he needs to convince the voters of florida that he is still viable. >> scottie, i want to play for you a very controversial sound bite. this is donald trump, the man you want to be the next president of the united states.

he was interviewed by anderson cooper last night. and he said this. listen to this. >> do you think islam is at war with the west? >> i think islam hates us. there's something -- there's something there that -- there's a tremendous hate red there. we have to get to the bottom of it. there is an unbelievable hatred of us. >> so it's caused a lot of controversy, because he said islam. he didn't say extremist islam, he said islam. and anderson asked him about that. why just islam. and he didn't back away from that. what did he mean by that? bus there are 1.5 muslims out there who hear something like that obviously muslims are upset. >> absolutely. he's reflecting the sentiment the we're seeing in polls. the cnn exit poll from michigan. six out of ten republicans do support a temporary ban of nonamerican muslims coming into this country.

mississippi 8 out of 10. so he is reflecting sentiment and when you talk to folks who are refugees, they were running away from somebody, and all mr. trump is saying, they want to make sure we have the system in place that they don't come over here. another point, wolf -- >> he would have been better off saying radical islam, not just lumping all muslims. because there are many muslims who serve in the u.s. military, patriotic muslims and it's obviously very, very inappropriate to lump all muslims as saying islam hates us. >> absolutely. but when you look at those people who are refugees, they're running from radicals. and as mr. trump pointed out, it's hard to tell the difference. it's not like there's stickers that say good versus bad. and until the islam and muslim community start policing their own and calling out pointing it, you're going to have this -- instability now amongst folks that they don't know who exactly they're looking at. ron, you work with ted cruz. what was your reaction? >> i think this is an absolutely

bizarre trump that would make that further underscores the fact that he is nowhere near prepared to be president of the united states. donald trump should not be trusted near sharp objects or anything along those lines to highlight how business arrest his statement was. the king of jordan is a strong u.s. ally, a muslim. does he demonstrate a hate let to the united states? absolutely not. the united states, many of whom are muslims and to paint with broad brush is bizarre. and underscores that he's not ready to be president. >> at the same time, ron, ted cruz, all the other republican candidates said if he emerges as the republican nominee, they will support him. >> well, we're working hard to make sure that's not the case. that's what this election is all about. and we believe that senator ted cruz is a much stronger alternative to donald trump and at the end of the day, tonight's debate will consolidate -- >> what do you think will happen? is will it be more even-toned or very, very lively? >> what i want to see come out

of tonight's debate is i want to see donald trump be asked whether those steaks he had at his bizarre qvc press confere e conference -- >> i thought we wanted policy. >> i think it's much more. it's a matter of integrity. donald trump is a very disturbing pattern when it comes to businesses that have failed and the same type of con being prepared at this time. and this debate provides a prime example to see not only who of candidates are -- >> i think the most interesting thing to watch in this debate tonight is the interaction between cruz and rubio. cruz is trying to figure out how he can build a unity party if rubio drops out. rubio is trying to make sure cruz doesn't take votes in florida so he loses florida. so what's going to happen between the two? and they're going to be speaking in front of a largely republican cuban-american hometown crowd. i expect to be emphasis on the

cuban-american heritage. yesterday we saw the policy come out in a democratic debate. i wouldn't be surprised to see it asked. and i think marco rubio learned the lesson there was a backlash for him going down the trump gutter. trump can live in that gutter. marco rubio who is the optimistic speaking, poetic speaker on the republican side cannot turn himself into a bully and get away with it. >> he acknowledged that was a mistake. >> you're right. the most poetic speaker. do you need a leader? that's the situation we're in right now. why mr. trump who is leading. and when you sit there and don't think they're going to get along. the reason cruz has the support he has spartarts with the immigration issue. marco rubio would have been our nominee if he wouldn't have voted for this gang of eight bill. it's going to be hard to say they're coming back to rubio. >> i would like you to listen. this is ted cruz, the man you

want as the next president of the united states, speaking about trump and his supporters and he's got millions who have voted for him already. listen to this. >> listen, donald does well with voters who have relatively low information who are not that engaged and who are angry and see him as an angry voice. where we are beating him is when voters get more engaged and get more -- when they inform themselves, they realize his record. he is what they're angry at. he is the corruption. and if you want someone to stand up to washington, the only one who has been doing so in this race is me. >> so the criticism, he's getting at, i want you to respond. you're the spokesperson. donald trump's voters who have relatively low information. it looks like the suggestion is he's belittling all those millions who have already voted for trump. >> i think we're closer to election day for more and more voters and voters need more

information. that's the purpose of the campaign. so it's not just a name race. when people didn't have any information and more people knew who donald trump was, he was running away with it. when people get more information about his record, bizarre business dealings, refusal to release his taxes, the "new york times" to release the tape where he stands on immigration, that margin drops dramatically and that's why senator cruz won in alaska, maine. he didn't -- he lost. >> hold on. the five states on tuesday, which will cruz win? >> i'm not going to raise the curtain. we'll see what happens. we're going to do well. >> going to do well. well doesn't win when you're going up against hillary clinton. you need to do good. and the reason why senator cruz did so well, he has an excellent ground game. you're seeing the establishment line up behind him. but people like jan brewer, chris christie people who -- you

want to say they're low informed or just being behind trump because they are low-informed voters? i don't think so. you're seeing people who are highly intelligent. >> let's have a reality check. ted cruz doing well on tuesday means he knocks marco rubio out. >> you think he'll do better down the road -- >> i think ted cruz has made the strategic decision the best he can do is turn this in a two-man race and figure out trumps he dose. he's playing political chess. >> at this point, this already is a two-person race. that's the reality and marco rubio is a very honorable man but not a factor as we go forward here as indicated by the fact that he's in so much jeopardy in his own state. >> if john kasich wins -- >> i would put more on kasich. >> we'll be covering it, obviously, wall to wall. thanks very much. you can see cruz, trump, ruin nope and kasich facing off

tonight in the final debate before the florida and ohio primaries. jake tapper moderates tonight. the pregame begins 8:30 here on cnn and cnn international. coming up, bernie sanders and hillary clinton faced off before super tuesday and now disagree with president obama on a key issue. plus, why are voters so angry about the u.s. economy right now? we'll explain. blatche

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that just tastes better. with more vitamins. and less saturated fat. only eggland's best. better taste. better nutrition. better eggs. i have been blamed by republicans for a lot of things. but being blamed for their primaries and who they're selecting for their party -- is novel. and is not as if there is a massive difference between mr. trump's position on immigration and mr. cruz's position on immigration. mr. trump might be more provocative in terms of how he says it. but the actual positions aren't that different. for that matter, they're not that different from mr. rubio's

position. >> that was president obama a while ago answering a reporter's question at a news conference about donald trump's presidential run. he was with theian canadian prime minister, justin trudeau and helping to create this environment where donald trump is so popular among these republican candidates. in the democratic race, hillary clinton and bernie sanders are out on the campaign trail after squaring off at a rather contentious debate last night at a rally in gainesville, florida. sanders had supporters from a prime win this past tuesday. >> we just pulled off a major upset in michigan the other day. and on tuesday, we got five states coming up, including

florida. if you guys come out to vote, we're going to pull off an upset here, as well. ♪ hillary clinton also campaigning today in florida. she has been holding a rally in tampa. we heard that earlier this hour before heading to north carolina, and illinois later today. both states, as well as florida, missouri and ohio. they hold their primaries tuesday, five coming up this tuesday. winner take all on the republican side, not the democratic side. joining us now to talk about the democratic race and the debate last night, two guests. the former michigan governor, jennifer granholm, and the former naacp president, ben gellis, a senior fellow. but he's here in his personal capacity as a bernie sanders supporter. let me get your reaction. there was a few provocative questions, but there was this

exchange jorge ramos and hillary clinton. listen to this governor. >> if you get indicted, would you drop out? >> oh, goodness, i'm not even answering that question. >> if you get indicted, would you drop out. i'm not even going to answer that question. what did you think? >> i thought her response was right on the money. she's not going to get indicted. this say security evaluation. hopefully wrapping up. i know that jorge ramos has to play both sides and ask tough questions. i thought she handled it perfectly well. >> would you answer the question? >> it's not unusual for her to be asked. but i think her answer was right on the money. >> ben, when did you think? >> i think it's a fair question. i thought it was a good answer. but it's a fair question. folks are asking that. >> we also saw a bit more

aggressive bernie sanders last night. hillary clinton accused him of siding with vigilantes. how to hunt down immigrants. she attacked him again over the auto industry bailout. here's how he responded. listen to this. >> no, i did not oppose the bailout with the support of the automobile industry. no, i do not support vigilantes and that is a horrific statement and unfair statement to make. i will stand -- [ cheers and applause ] in terms of my career, political career, fighting for workers, fighting for the poorest people in this country. madam secretary, i will match my record against yours any day of the week. >> it looks like he has a greater sense of momentum. what do you think is going to happen this tuesday with these five states at play? >> well, what we saw, you know, last week was -- a couple days

ago was that voters are smart and see through these attacks that -- that she's made again and again. it's one of the frustrating, disappointing parts of this campaign to see what you just showed there. this week, i think what we'll see, quite frankly is that our -- that trade in the midwest will be top of mind for many voters. people know that nafta killed jobs that never came back for people who were still searching, frankly, for good employment and a way back to the dream that fuels this country. same thing with permanent normal trade relations with china. those two together have taken away 4 million jobs that have never come back. and in these more industrial states, it's a big, big issue. it will move a lot of voters to the polls. i think what we'll also see is the black vote continues to inch up. black voters are getting more

time to get to know bernie. and as they do, what we see is t the truth. and that's why we saw him do so much better with black voters and we'll see him do better still. >> well, let's let jennifer respond to that. >> nifirst of all, the issue abt trade is very real. and the question for hillary clinton and bernie sanders is what are you going to do to not just oppose all trade, but what are you going to do to create jobs in america in a global economy. and i'm not just talking about infrastructure jobs. but she has got this very broad and deep economic development strategy to create good-paying jobs in america. bernie sanders talks about the hollowing out of the militants class. what are you going to do about creating jobs for people. african-americans, latinos, white people. we all care about this. it's the number one issue. and that's why her to be focu d

focused -- i think she gets in, she will be the best job creation president we have seen. >> jennifer granholm, she likes hillary clinton. benefit ben jealous likes bernie sanders. coming up, presidential rivals not named donald trump. next tuesday, 99 delegates up for grabs. we'll get our analysts to weigh in. and live pictures right now simi valley, california, final respects to nancy reagan. more coverage after the break. ifor all the wrong reasons.gical

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♪ nancy reagan, lying in repose today at simi valley. we're going to have special coverage of the funeral tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. eastern. that special coverage. our brooke baldwin will anchor that. the special race for the white house, adam smith political editor of "tampa bay times" and

jeff balls. let's talk about florida. what's going to happen on tuesday? >> we are weirdly disloyal in florida. we've had two hometown favorites. jeb bush and marco rubio, neither has been close to leading in the polls since probably july. >> so trump looks like he's going to win in florida? >> it's florida, so nothing is predictable. but trump looks favored right now. >> and the polls have been very consistent. >> there have been some that show a big lead and some that show a smaller lead. but he's leading in all of them. and if rubio is truly competitive, he should be ti tighter. i agree with adam. >> the hometown senator, if he didn't win on tuesday, everybody seems to think it's over, right? >> what's the case. if if he can't win florida that republicans must win to win the general election, hard to make the case he's the strongest candidate. >> that helps cruz or trump more or does it help kasich? >> well, kasich -- trump keeps

saying i'm going to pick up a lot of those supporters too. >> he may well. the shall issue for kasich, he's got his own battle in ohio. >> polls there are mixed. >> yes. >> he's ahead in some but behind in others. >> cruz still has at this point the greater claim to be the last man standing. but if castic has a victory in ohio, we're talking different situation on wednesday. >> let's say kasich does win in ohio and marco rubio loses in florida. realistically, can kasich show something? in other words, does it make any difference in he wins in ohio or not? >> yeah. he's got an argument in terms of going on. but in terms of getting the delegat delegates, that window is closed. >> he's so far in the delegates and ohio is not going to vault him in a serious delegate fight. >> let's talk about jeb bush,

meeting with the republican presidential candidates not named donald trump. what does that say to you? >> he's doing the owe blibtory thing. i'm sure all would like to get his endorsement and he's going to hear them out and we'll wait to see whether it's in his own interest to jump in this race on behalf of somebody else. >> he was a popular governor in florida. if he were to make an endorsement before tuesday, that could be significant. >> in 1998, i would say that would be huge but now not so much. i think he'll probably watch the debate tonight and more likely than not, will not endorse. >> he won't get involved. he left on a very -- beautiful speech he delivered as he left. but clearly a huge disappointme disappointment. a year ago, everyone thought it was a lock for him. >> he was the early favorite, raised all that money and everybody looked at him and said this is potentially a juggernaut. but, you know, wolf, at the same time, it was always clear there

was resistance inside the party to another bush. and i think he was never able to overcome that. put aside the donald trump problem. >> yeah, we'll see how trump does on tuesday in florida. and as adam and dan, you know, florida is basically three different demographic, south florida, central florida, morning north florida. we'll study the exists. thanks very much for coming. and take a look at this. another look at the stage for this setup for tonight's cnn republican presidential debate. the candidates are scheduled to arrive any moment now for the walk-throughs. we'll keep you updated. and can you explain why you recommend synthetic over cedar? "super food?" is that a real thing? it's a great school, but is it the right one for her? is this really any better than the one you got last year? if we consolidate suppliers, what's the savings there? so should we go with the 467 horsepower? ...or is a 423 enough? good question. you ask a lot of good questions... i think we should move you into our new fund.

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we're fog breaking news right now. we've learned the obama administration plans to blame iranian hackers for a 2013 cyberattack against the new york dam. let's get to justice reporter, evan perez. evan, what are you learning? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. hackers working for the iranian government it is believed when behind the attack in new york. and now the obama administration is getting ready to publicly say so. u.s. officials tell me the justice department is preparing an indictment against people believed to be behind the attack. the hack isn't considered to be very sophisticated, but they did get into some back office systems, and not the operational systems of the dam. but still, it's an attack that alarmed the white house, because it shows how vulnerable u.s. infrastructure is to this kind of attack. we expect an announcement in the next week, and this is part of a strategy in recent years by the administration to, quote, name

and shame countries and if it possible the people behind cyber attacks. in 2014, if you remember, wolf, the justice department charged members of the chinese military with breaching u.s. industrial companies and last year the fbi publicly blamed north korea for the devastating attack on sony pictures so we expect to hear more from the justice department in the next week or so, wolf. >> so they're saying these hackers were working directly for the iranian government. will they get into specifics, the iranian revolutionary guard, the iranian military, will they talk about the more moderate elements at the top leadership that the u.s. has been negotiating with on this iran nuclear deal? how specific will they get in naming names? >> reporter: well, we don't example know, but we do know that the administration and certainly the fbi and the intelligence agencies have been keeping an eye on the growing capabilities of the iranian military and hackers that are working for them.

in this case, wolf, they were using off-the-shelf software, which is worrisome because if you can do damage with a software you can get off the internet, that is something that really raises a lot of concerns for u.s. industrial companies, and for the infrastructure for certainly the power grid and so on. so it's definitely something that is on the minds of the administration. >> yeah, we'll see the names that are named in the indictment and how high that goes. thanks very much, evan perez. let's get back to the race for the white house. exit polls in several of the primary states have shown voters' number one issue is is the economy, the state of the economy. take a look at michigan, ferguson, missouri. 92% of voters said they were worried about the u.s. economy. among democrats, it was 80%. why is that, especially when unemployment, the unemployment rate now is relatively, low,

4.9%. it was around 8% when president obama took office some seven years ago. so let's bring in the chief economics reporter for the "wall street journal." wouldn't it suggest that people are more encouraged, the millions of jobs created, hundreds of thousands virtually in every month, the u.s. was losing 800,000 jobs when obama took office. 800,000 jobs a month. >> reporter: absolutely, wolf of the total job creation record of the last seven or eight years and back down to what economists consider a full employment level. two reasons. one, we know a lot of people have dropped out of the labor force because they retired, went on disability insurance, gave up. so those people -- that means the unemployment rate is a little understated as a result. so secondly, the wages that people have jobs are getting aren't as preface they used to be. wage growth in recent years ab

around 2% versus 4% before the recession. and i think that feeling of not really being able to stay much ahead of inflation is really eating away at people's sense of security. >> because as they say, a lot of people have dropped out. some have suggested that the work level right now -- the number of people participating in the job market, shall we say, is almost at a record low. is that true? >> reporter: that is true. the labor force participation rate has dropped in the last seven or eight years. however, it's really not the case as some people argue, this is entirely because it's a weak job market. we are a country getting older. so the first baby boomers began collecting social security. so we would have had a drop even without the recession. it is still the case that a lot of people are not working might be contributing to the overall sense that things aren't white right in the country. >> what about homeownership? we know the disaster in 2007-2008 when people were

losing their homes in that mortgage bubble, the disaster that occurred. what about now? what does it look like? >> reporter: pretty discouraging and i think this speaks to some of the anxiety out there. the home ownership rate reached a record of 69% prior to the recession. it's now down to 63%, which is roughly where it was in 199 a. the average young family starting out in the job market wants to start a family, buy a home. finding it very difficult to get a mortgage, put together money to make a down payment, given that regulations are much tighter. so between the weakness of income and the much greater stringency, there is on people's ability to basically get what they used to think their parents could assume they would have at this age, i think that undermines security. along with the mission of opportunities and sectors like manufacturing, there used to be the source of really good-paying work. >> whatever democrats and republican voters so far, what they disagree on a lot, but clearly are both worried about the state of u.s. economy right now.

good explanation, greg. thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks for having me, wolf. coming up, the republican presidential candidates, they're getting ready to debate tonight. they're expected, actually, to arrive here on the campus of the university of miami at the debate hall momentarily. they'll begin their -- what we call their walk-throughs before tonight's big event. i'll check out the podium, lecterns. i'll take you on stage for a closer look at what the candidates will face in this final showdown before next tuesday's super tuesday. your sneak peek, right after the break.

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take a look at this, some live pictures coming in. this is the cnn stage for tonight's republican presidential debate. we expect the candidates to arrive any minute now to tour the stage, get a little feeling for what's up on this stage. we'll bring you some of that live once it happens, so stick around for that, that's coming up. i had a chance to go inside the debate hall with our senior white house correspondent jim acosta who gave us the lay of

the land on that stage and some insight into what we might hear from each of the candidates. let's go on the stage and take a look at this debate -- >> sounds good. >> it's a really beautiful hall here, magnificent setting for this historic presidential debate. >> i'm amazed our crews can tear down these stages, set them back up, it's really a team effort t it. >> remember when there were eight, nine, whatever? >> we used to have a kiddie table. >> this is rubio. >> donald trump over here. >> that's right. >> ted cruz. and john kasich. what are you hearing, is it going to be one of these really lively tough assertive debates or is there going to be a little softer tone now? >> trump is hoping it will be a softer debate but i don't think so. i think ted cruz has decided he's ready to be that nasty anti-trump candidate we saw marco rubio behave like in recent days and he's gone after

trump in the last 24 hours saying he's not hear to sell steaks, he's not here to sell wine. >> trump will stand over here, to the left, cruz, and to his right, marco rubio. for rubio and his home state of florida, as you well know, this is basically do or die. >> this is make or break for marco rubio. if he can't win his home state, he's going to fall so far behind in the delegate count, it almost doesn't make sense for him to stay in the race anymore. the same goes for john kasich, he's in the same situation in ohio. if you look at the polls, he might have a better shot at treating trump in his home state. if marco rubio can't win in florida, he would be in big trouble. you would thing trump would not be distracted by a lot of booing and other types of noises being made at rallies because that's what happens at his events but you see it happen at almost every one of his debates, people are yelling and screaming through his debates. donald trump likes to say these are the contributors, donors to his opponents, rnc has said that's not the case.

i can't remember a cycle where the debates have been this rowdy, not only on the stage but in the audience as well. >> looking forward to debate, thanks. >> thank you, wolf. >> our jake tapper, he'll moderate the debate, dana bash will join in the questioning, hugh huette will join in the questioning. two hours. all of the activities really begin around 8:30 p.m. eastern, the predebate, if you will, the debate closer to 9:00 p.m. eastern. it goes for two hours. this is the last chance for these four republican presidential candidates, to make an impressive showing of the important primaries that are coming up. marco rubio, his last chance to show he's a serious candidate. similarly for john kasich in ohio, do or die there. a full complement of representation. very important debate coming up later tonight, stick around for

that. any minute, you'll start to see the candidates walk through the debate hall. you'll have live coverage of that. stick around for that. i'll see you later, 5:00 p.m. eastern, in "the situation room." the news continues right after a break. heals faster. for a bandage that moves with you and stays on all day, cover with a band-aid brand flexible fabric adhesive bandage. and i'm still struggling with my diabetes. i do my best to manage. but it's hard to keep up with it. your body and your diabetes change over time. your treatment plan may too. know your options. once-daily toujeo® is a long-acting insulin from the makers of lantus®. it releases slowly to provide

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and here we go, you're watching cnn, i'm brooke baldwin. special live coverage here in beautiful miami, florida. tonight's cnn republican debate. the candidates will have their very final chance to face off before tuesday's massive winner take all primaries both here in florida and of course in all important ohio. this could be perhaps, perhaps, their final debate together. could donald trump deliver his knockout