welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thanks for sharing time with us on this important day. donald trump and hillary clinton square off here tonight at hofstra university. at 43 days out this race is extremely tight. one new national poll out today shows trump up two points in a four-race race. cnn poll of polls averaging out all data, a three-point clinton

lied. essentially a dead heat six weeks to election day. plus more new evidence, key battleground states. look at the brand new cnn polling. dead heats in two states absolutely critical to hillary clinton. pennsylvania and colorado. our new poll shows her down by one. she led comfortably in those two states for months. as they take a few hours to prepare, the expectations game is in full swing. >> i know this about hillary clinton. when the lights are bright like they are now, she brings the a-plus game to the table. i'm sure he's going to be entertaining, but he can't get away with, like, doing the 15-second thing and then -- and then, you know, walking away, not taking questions, which is what he likes to do. it's 90 minutes mano a mano. >> tim kaine says, somebody said he's supposed to lower his

candidate's expectations. the way it goes. many believe donald trump lacks the temperament to be commander in chief. will we see this trump -- >> why did hillary get rid of her middle name? huh? hillary? why did she get rid of it? hit hillary "rotten" clinton. maybe that's why. >> or will we see this trump -- >> the arrogance of washington, d.c. will soon come face to face with the righteous verdict of the american worker and voter. >> now, for secretary clinton, the test is more personal. she needs a fresh look from voters who view her at calculating, untrustworthy and those who want change in washington and aren't sure a longtime insider can deliver that. >> even if you're totally opposed to donald trump, you may still have questions about me.

i get that. and i want to do my best to answer those questions. >> she gets a big chance tonight. estimated more than 100 million people tuning in. with us to share reporting on this day and insights, from the "washington post" and others. start with a wow. you saw polling off the top. a competitive race. go back six weeks and get into the details in a bit. a lot of democrats thought this race was over. as we wait, donald trump, hillary clinton face-to-face, first time. mary katherine, start with you. a quick observation what you're looking for? >> the whole year has been unexpected. the most unexpected thing tonight would be to see trump with a grasp of policy and totally boring debate. maybe if we're expecting the unexpected is what to expect. he needs to pass a basic level of acceptability throughout this thing. >> jeff? >> i think hillary clinton, can

she make donald trump unacceptable? talking about risky. some voters want a risk. hungry for change. can she make him unacceptable? so far unable to do that, as polls show. >> ed? >> looking for how much watch. the number to beat in this country, at least, 115.2 million. they watched super bowl xlix in 2015. collectively can it be topped tonight? giving an indication, really, how really interested americans still are in this race. >> no question. sara? >> looking for facial expressions and body language. how irritated, exasperated, frustrated does hillary clinton get when asked about her e-mails, and for donald trump, the republican primary debates were very much a spectacle. he did a lot of flailing, made a lot of facial sort of expressions that are not necessarily appealing to female voters, and does he tone that down? one on one against a female opponent? >> the two candidates have very different missions.

hillary clinton, she grasps the policy detail. needs to be more warmer to the american people and like about and diskf trump. the expectations game seems silly. donald trump never was a politician, never held office. the bar some think is lower. applying for the great job, should be considered equal. jeff, take us about a mixed review -- listen here, republican house speaker paul ryan went through this as mitt romney's vice presidential pick, not in the room with donald trump and rudy giuliani, former new york city mayor is, competing advice? >> over prepare. look, hillary clinton's didn't bog this most of her life. she is the consummate pro. this is new for donald. i think he should overprepare. >> depends how much confidence you have in yourself. what we want. a president who has confidence in himself or herself. if you've got to overprepare,

you have to overprepare. i mean, but if you have confidence in yourself, i mean, you go with what got you there. >> i make it a policy to almost never believe what they tell us about what happens in the private prep saying he's not paying attention. she's overstudies, watching videos. what do we know about trump? style is not to overprepare. doing more than they're letting on, say he's sitting around shooting the breeze? >> they know he won't emerge with the same depth of knowledge the way government and the world works as hillary clinton who was a former secretary of state and a senator, but certainly he is preparing. look, talking to rudy giuliani, talking to chris christie and multiple generals, all to flesh out his world and to prepare for going one-on-one against a female opponent. so i think there certainly is a little expectations lowering by just saying, oh, well, donald trump just talked to people on the plane, just campaigns. that's his debate prep. the reality, very tight-lipped about this because they don't

want you to know exactly how much he's doing. >> i picked up from trump people, a little worried he more and more confident, reading the polls. when donald trump gets confident, he tends to ignore the advice and go off script. jeff, as hillary clinton prepares she wants draw out donald trump. we saw that in debates, her effort to say he doesn't have the temperament to be president. how does she draw out this guy? >> first of all, this guy's a choke artist and this guy's a liar. i'm relaxed. you're a basket case. >> this little guy has lied so much about my record. >> don't worry about it, little marco. >> a liar. >> we don't need a weak person being president of the united states. okay? that's what we get -- you're getting beaten badly. i know you're embarrassed, keep fighting. swing for the fences. >> now, that's what she wants.

what if she tries line one and two and doesn't get it? >> they're been preparing for the teleprompter one. they think they'll get the second. probably will. during those moments trying to convince people who could stand up with those people. he's done with that. the person he's trying to get is the voter in the -- the suburbs of philadelphia who voted for mitt romney and not totally sure still about him. they are going to try to get under his skin knop question about it. but they're looking for moments. presidential debates are 90 minutes long but based on moments. why she has a stand-in, her longtime, really, kvconfidant a aide, coaching her for those moments. preparing at the exact hour of the debate, 9:00 until 10:30, standing on her feet the whole time.

he's putting her through paces. i'm not sure she'll be successful. >> one thing cannot be challenged. the leap of donald trump. go ahead? the point who exactly we're going to see them speaking to tonight, i thought striking in our poll yesterday that found 17% of people said it might have some kind of impact, but 6% respondents, roughly if we have a universe of 100 million, maybe 6 million viewers could actually be swayed by tonight's results and if they live in the suburbs of philly or denver or -- northern virginia, kpleevd acled columbus that right there could decide the race. caution. all of this talk of overpreparing getting into the details, giuliani is right. the more you overprepare the more you over think. ask jeb bush among others how exactly that goes. he's never been one-on-one, never debate add woman, but you can ask people who overprepared how it goes. they're enjoying the private life. >> debates are different than writing a test sitting in class taking a test. sometimes the best student might score the most debate points but best opticing win debates.

>> saying about hillary clinton. she is a studier. tracy flick and he's not. he's a guy that goes with his gut. a risk for both of them here. she draws him out, has him insulting her, he's comfortable and go places she won't go, which gets under her skin. also doesn't work with the middle of the road voters, who say the numbers might be like the super bowl but this is not a game. we need you to keep under control. a risk for both in trying to draw the other one out, i think. >> and different tart alreadyianses we'll get to. help meep translate. newt gingrich tweeted, a lot of free game, a lot is silly. what guest do you put in the front row to distract the other one? who's scoring points. favorite from the former presidential candidate newt gingrich. clinton is a fox knows many things to fact check. trump a hedge hodge, knows one thing. we need change. >> i didn't know hedgehogs knew so much about change but why i personally wanted newt gingrich to be selected vp.

i figured a vp tour of zoot across america. that's all i got for you. >> one thing, she's done so many debates. covered them and watched them all. nearly 40, 38 or 39. won most all of them. certainly won most all in 2008 with barack obama. so i think her practice and her respect will do well in that respect. >> hasn't debate add republican since, what? the senate? >> or a hedgehog. >> never far as we know. >> fact checkers won't challenge that either. does it matter -- we know both want to be warmer, fuzzy, more likable. you want people to think it's the old reagan rules. have a drink yoir president, lunch with your president, sit down, have a beer. they both know they are the most unfavorably viewed candidates in the united states history. favorite piece of journal entries. positive or negative view of canada, 75% positive view. 38%, positive view of mexico.

37% of hillary clinton, 28% of donald trump. must about typo. can't you true. bottom line. 19%, positive in the news media. >> high for us. >> hey, beat vladimir putin with three times, vladimir putin, sara. a good talking point there. when you walk onstage knowing that your reputation, your image is kind of in the tank, you're not going to change it in a debate. does that matter? do you think, okay, this is get nasty, or try extra hard? >> go ahead. >> that's part of the risk. ir inherent. so much of the image is baked in. how much do you get out of that? or do you want to? once you act like not yourself you don't come across at real. neither of them does that much of it to begin with, to some extend, don't come off as real and lose your edge of what you're good at. both running a risk. >> you don't want to reinforce what people don't like about you. the tone of hillary clinton's voigt, interesting to watch. people talk a lot about that.

in her rallies recently she's been lowering it and i do not think she will come across as sharp as some of those republican rivals are. her negatives are high. doesn't want to make them higher. >> don't sigh or look at your watch, on a split-screen at all times. don't miss a minute of the presidential debate, watch tonight, 9:00 p.m. on cnn. live coverage throughout the day from hofstra university. up next, inside the debate preparations and what each candidate sees as their best, best, lines of attack.

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live at hofstra university. the big debate is tonight. from a distance a campaign rich in insults. he calls he crooked hillary. she says he's dangerous, erratic. each calling the other unfit for the highest office in the land. tonight, face-to-face. for secretary clinton, it's urgent. trump's battle is real and if he looks and acts like a president, months and millions spent on casting him a risky loose cannon could be wasted. a big strategy for clinton, try to draw out this trump. >> they're bringing drugs. they're bringing crime. they're rapists. >> that could be a mexican plane up there, they're getting ready to attack. >> i have had horrible rulings treated very unfairly by this judge. now, this judge is of mexican heritage. >> we're going to have businesses that used to be in new hampshire now in mexico come

back to new hampshire, and you can tell them -- to go [ muted ] themselves. >> one of the interesting things as we watched this play out, they both come in looking at very different constituencies they're trying to appeal to. trump, in the suburbs, white, educated voters. hillary clinton has a problem with the obama 3millennials. not she wouldn't get the votes of latinos and notice african-americans but will they vote is the question? she says look at this guy. you don't want him as a president. not racist, but others call him a bigot. does that trump come out or too well coached? >> we'll see. the democrats are hoping it does. so many races at the presidential level and down ballot level could use that motivation, frankly among hispanics.

nevada, great example. causing panic and concern. you don't have hispanics turning out to vote for democrating candidates for clinton in colorado, it's over. and is florida, central florida especially. it would be a big help to them. >> and we assume -- >> probably why he won't do it. >> if he doesn't go there, sara, she's studied everything said in the campaign. she's going to know those lines? . defend mr. trump? why won't you say it now? >> they're aware of the fact not everyone has followed this as closely the last year and a half as we have. we saw this with mitt romney onstage with president obama in 2012. he came out in the first debate, rushed to the middle. disavowed previous things he stood for, took new positions. something the clinton campaign is preparing for that donald trump may not be the same donald trump we've seen the last year and a half. it's incumbent upon her to remind bheem they said before and done before, the things that made him seem unacceptable previously but maybe you haven't

heard in the last couple of months. a tough thing to do if he doesn't bring it up and if the moderator doesn't bring it up. >> if trump poms well, i'm the outsider, change washington. she's a washington insider, cannot. does the crooked on the trail. the question fob mere, jeff, bernie sanders said i don't tcae about the damn e-mails. donald trump does. >> he sure does. >> the question tonight does she need a better answer? >> i'm going to give the same answer i've been giving for many months. it wasn't the best choice. i made a mistake. it was not prohibited. it was not in any way disallowed, and as i've said and as now has come out, my predecessors did the same thing. and many other people in the government. but here's the cut to the chase facts. i did not send or receive any e-mails marked classified at the time. >> that's not exactly a cut to the chase fact. there were a few e-mails marked

classified at the time. >> a lot has happened since that answer back in march. and this is not an old story. this is, in fact, a very much new story as the investigations have gone on. >> releasing documents the friday before the first debate. the obama fbi -- >> used to call those document dumps back in the news service business. >> still do. moderators working the refs. >> no doubt. her advisers, i think, suggested that they've been concentrating on that answer perhaps more than anything else, because it is the most obvious thing that will come up. right? since then she's going on to have slightly better answers, in their view. you'll hear more contrition tonight. you will not hear as much blaming, oh, colin powell did this, because, there's a new line of attack on that as well. i think she will double down more on apologizing, but try and pivot to transparency. this is a tough one for hoe, though. a., it's sort of baked in and one of the central reasons people have questions about her

and have spent considerable time i'm told on this answer in particular. i'd be surprised to see a similar response. >> a pre-dynamic debate, everyone tries to work the refs and moderators. the trump campaign, not lester holt. lester holt of nbc, the moderators, good man. not his job. donald trump says something factually not true, not his job to say that's not true. let the candidates debate each other. we know from the campaign trump broken the pinocchio machine. had a hard time with donald trump. sometimes, listen here, a relatively casual relationship with the truth. >> hillary clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. i finished it. >> i was against going into the war in iraq. >> i want to thank the african-american community, because i don't know if you've been watching, but the poll

numbers are going like a rocket ship. >> over the weekend there were islamic terrorist attacks in minnesota, new york city, and in new jersey. these attacks were made possible because of our extremely open immigration system. >> i mean, every one of the statements in that, mary katherine works break the fact checking machine, and jeff, a trademark of the trump campaign. what happens tonight if either one of them says something that -- if he says again i was opposed to the iraq war from the beginning. he was not knop evidence he was opposed from the beginning. >> with both candidates, a troubled relationship with the truth, we saw from that answer from hillary clinton. there's not a great answer on that because there isn't a great answer without lying about it. the moderators sgeets a quagmire trying to check every thing. leave it up to the candidate. hillary clinton should be able to fact check donald trump. i wonder if donald trump knows the intimate details of the e-mail situation and can throw

them back at her? that would be more effective than the personal attacks but i wonder if he'll default to the bernal takes? >> they certainly have been digging in to the details on the e-mails. part of the reason rudy giuliani is in the room with him, day in and day out. nobody's wants to prosecute hillary clinton quite like giuliani does. he is deep in the weeds on this. i bet a couple points on that. it's hard for the moderator. you don't want to be the one debating the candidate, but perfectly easy to have previous comments from a candidate in front of you. we've seen previous debate moderators do this in a way where it's not a fight. you can just go back and say, look, this is what you said in 2002 and what you said in 2004. can you explain why you're saying this now? >> and to mary katherine's point, you know, remember when we had a 17-candidate field each would say nearly every day i cannot wait until i'm the one onstage debating her.

if he let's any opportunity slip by it will upset republicans especially those not ready yet to vote for him. but if he can prosecute her onstage, back her into a corner essenti essentialland i have her squabble and give an answer like in march that right there does more than anything to motivate his base and possibly win over skept skeptics. >> never debated one-on-one. never debate add woman. interesting to watch as well. a lot more to cover. sit tight like athletes before the big game. candidate, guess what? use video to study opponents. the primary season debate lessons, next.

it is debate night in america. back live on the campus of hofstra university. donald trump's favorite used to be mocking rivals. lying ted, little marco. remember that?

a weak link, losing his cool when the attacks were about his brand and business smarts. >> if he builds the wall the way he built trump towers he'lling using illegal imgramigrant laboo do t. such a cute sound bite. >> it's not a sound bite. it's a fact. go online and google it. donald trump, polish workers. you'll see it. the trade war, i don't understand. your ties and the clothes you make is made in mexico and china. starting a trade war against your own ties and suits. >> ant currencies -- devalue currencies. that makes it -- >> why don't you make them in america? >> you don't know about policies and -- >> make them in america. >> could you see donald trump losing his cool. one difference, you won't have a live audience. they try to control that in the general election debates, which could be a factor. the audience was a big part of the democratic and republican debates. when they got at trump's business practices, his brand, you could see him there.

that worked for marco rubio and he took it to a new parallel on the campaign in the days after. how does trump keep himself from that? >> that's his sore spot. you go after it, i'm not sure he keeps his cool. he is capable keeping his cool for 60 minutes. this is 90 minutes of time. the next day he boils over and has things to say. it is pebbl it is possible. that is the place she wants to hit. about a year ago carly fiorina drew first blood drawing about that comment donald trump said about her face. no smile, worked on the stage, but not in the polls. did not translate. many of the policy hits he took during the gop debate, same thing. now with her ads, they're not landing even though she's pointing out he's not

acceptable. the ads are not bad. >> donald trump will know go anywhere near gennifer flowers, republicans believe. the most pivotal voters, in this election, women. she has an answer for and does not need to be attacked by him on his third wife for that. >> you mentioned the marco rubio moment. i think that sort of gives you an idea of the risk for hillary clinton. yes, wants to get under his skin. yes, wants to make him seem temperamentally unfit, but if she goes down too far, i mean, donald trump has shown that if he's attacked he will hit back and he will hit back hard. it you're in a position when everyone gets dragged down into the gutter, you saw how that worked for marco rubio. it didn't. he was the one that ultimately paid the price noor. not donald trump. >> she's focused on temperament and get ready for the job. i agree. it would be uncharted territory and probably quite dangerous. >> he seemed to lose his cool

going after his brand and business acumen. for her, questioning her honesty. bernie sanders tried to make the case, a great resume, sure, but does she have the right judgment? >> does secretary clinton have the experience and intelligence to about president? of course she does. but i do question -- [ cheers and applause ] but i do question her judgment. >> well, the people of new york voted for me twice to be their senator from new york, and -- [ cheers and applause ] -- and president obama trusted my judgment enough to ask me to be secretary of state for the united states. >> is that enough? that's a good line in a democratic primary. the president, trust me, he's very popular. if he goes after her judgment here tonight, gets into the crooked hillary, the transparency, the e-mails, into the fbi investigation -- >> i think it is not good, but we heard her say president obama there. she'll mention president obama i think as much as she mentions

donald trump by name, specifically. to win, she needs to get the people who voted for president obama. that simple here. so i think she will focus on that as judgment. slightly riskier than judgment is, you know, just the idea of, can you trust her? do you want change? the change argument every eight years is so strong. it's stronger now than it seemed it might be a couple months ago. so i think she has a harder time defending the change argument than judgment. >> well, and there's another part of this e-mail thing which is her reaction to it, wreaks of entitlement and people don't like that about the sort of clinton dynasty. she said, i should have these votes. why am i not up 50 votes? it's built into her -- >> people think she plays by her own rules. >> interesting how it's impacted her within the members of military. infinitely more qualified than

donald trump based on past experience dealing with foreign policy, dealing with national security, just purely based on previous job experience, people look at the things she did and e-mails controversy, things she managed to get away with, members of the military say, i would have been fired. >> she spoke to a navy vet at the commander in chief forum and answer add question from him. sort of barely contained anger at the fact he was asked her this question but saying, i would have got in trouble for this. it's a real issue. >> explained at times she thinks she's helped with the test on transparency. dana bash says released the transcripts. in her last two ads raised donald trump not releasing his taxes. is that a debate stage issue? >> sure. >> essentially what are you trying to hide, right? >> the point i mentioned with intitlement flip it on its head. he has the same problem. 69% in the bloomberg poll say he should be releases his taxes. why wouldn't you bring that up

tonight? majority of the countries want that hear that. >> loans from china, what's he hiding? not paying taxes? can he be trusted? >> another thing that comes up against donald trump sometimes. meghan kelly, quoting back to donald trump his own words. he doesn't like it. >> you've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. does that sound to you like a man we should elect as president? >> the big problem we have in this country is being politically correct. i've been -- [ cheers and applause ] -- i've been challenged by so many people, and i don't, frankly, have time for total political correctness. >> i assume, jeff, hillary clinton -- the gender gap is huge. is this the president we want for our daughters? i assume a bigger audience

tonight than ever for that ad? >> no doubt. the sound track of her edds, somethi -- her ads. song and verse on policy, bring up something he said. why a lot of people think her ad, she has up recently, his words about women and as younger women looking in the mirror is effective. >> imagine if it comes from her and not a moderator? >> interesting to watch. the one-on-one and man versus woman. fascinated. up next, why debate stakes are so high. a closer look and where and why.

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call now, request your free decision guide and start gathering the information you need to help you keep rolling with confidence. go long™. ♪ welcome back. we don't need to use fancy adjectives to hype the stakes. the numbers don't lie. look here. nationally, three point clinton lead over trump. and johnson and stein included in the question. stunning just after three weeks ago when secretary clinton enjoyed a whopping ten-point lead over trump. and a lead over mitt romney in their debate over four years ago. when you take state-by-state look, a new poll showing dead

heats in colorado and pennsylvania are in the heat. and the candidates not on the debate stage a big factor in clinton's struggles. colorado, dead heat at the top. libertarian johnson, and jill stein. among voters under 45. traditionally a more democratic group, johnson at 24%. stein at 6%. watch tonight. watch tonight. she is bleeding millennials to the third-party candidate. say she echoes this like from bernie sanders from the weekend. >> i think what the focus has got to be on now is understanding that this moment in history for a presidential election is not the time for a protest vote. it is a time to look at which candidate is going to work best for the middle class and working families? >> does she worry tonight about a candidate not here, gary johnson, or save it for another

day and go for donald trump. through the state-by-state pollings, people we thought after the two conventions would hold their nose and vote for clinton are hiding in the third party column? >> she has to keep her sights trained on donald trump. i don't know what the best way is, aside from her to peel millennial support from touch and spend time out in colorado pup need to protect that, and this is -- it's a state that the clinton camp thought was going to be in their corner, and the trump campaign really hasn't made much effort to win at this point. spending a little money here, and people are quibbling with the quality of the polls, that kind of thing. the reality is, she needs to get hispanic voters to turn out for her in colorado in a bag wig wad peel millennial voters off with 40-something days to do it. >> it's neglect. what it is. that's a word used by her supporters. democrats across the country, hispanic and black democrats saying you have been taking this group of people, you know, taking advantage of them.

you haven't been paying attention to them. you haven't been advertising to them. you haven't been visiting college campuses. if bernie sanders feels that way, the clinton campaign should make sure he's on a college tour the next 42 days and same with elizabeth warren. >> a 2x4 across the head. these numbers are damaging. >> it is. historically third-party candidates have a fall-in as the debates go. i'm not sure that's going to happen this time, and if they -- one advisers told me this morning if the race looks so tight, those gary johnson voters will go to hillary clinton. not sure without work on that. why bernie sanders is on the road tomorrow with her on a college campus in new hampshire. >> a couple thing. most concerning about the poll numbers for her, trajectory is very bad while spending a lot of money making the exact argument on tv, going to be making tonight on tv. it hasn't been hitting. may hit with this larger audience, and the thing about millennials unlike the grandma of the millennials, oldest you can get, but millennials, i got

a heart song to sing and i'm going to sing it and losing faith in all of these ins stations. when you tell them you have to vote for one of these people they don't like. hmm do i? what she's up against. >> i'm taking offense. the oldest of the millennials i'm youngest of the baby booms. ouch! sit tight. reporters sharing notebooks including the campaign strategy to turn out some early votes. well, it was nice to see everyone. i just wish it had been for a better reason. me, too, but the eulogy that frank's

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let's head around here and in this case across the inside politics table and ask our great reporters for a sneak peek of their notebooks, ahead of the political news around the corner. >> in the postpoll released sunday potentially dangerous information for democrats showing structural weakness still across the country. especially as early votes begins and closer to voting time. 71% of clinton supporters in the

poll are registered to vote. compared to 82% of trump supporters. why is that? because her supporters are younger, and non-white. hispanic, black, asian. not registered. again, this confirms the concerns of a lot of supporters that they have neglected certain parts of the obama coalition, not organized them enough. these numbers confirm the panic i've been hearing about for weeks, and puts it out there. again, big problem as you point out in the polls this morning in colorado, virginia and other places. >> 43 days. better hustle. sara? >> look, with our poll showing colorado and pennsylvania in a dead heat, how hard to you compete for the stretch states? competing in pennsylvania, but talking about colorado. talking about maine, wisconsin, michigan. how hard do you go? the campaign is saying they are going to spend $100 million on television between now and election day. as of today, they had only reserved about $9 million in air time, but some of that is in colorado. some of that is in maine,

indications they are at least starting to take these places seriously and we will know for sure when we see donald trump spending a significant amount of time there or not. don't get caught in the trap flirting with colorado. taking your eye off the ball like florida could be pivotal as well. >> and can they keepment in from $9 million to $100 million? a little gap there. >> yeah. >> mary katherine? >> don't try to out troll donald trump. the gennifer flowers moment was interesting to me. i was surprised not that he went there, but that she went there with a millionaire pop idol of donald trump and wants him in the front row. he will raise you, donald trump will. a lot of attention on who his guests are in the front row and people in the media can say this was the wrong move, but not tripping over to win our praise and it gets him attention and do they know how dangerous he can be on the stage? >> he wins.

jeff? >> every day is election day, at least starting thursday in iowa. when the polls actually open. you can walk in to cast an early vote. why hillary clinton is going to des moines on thursday. at least is scheduled to. only the second sometime since winning the iowa caucuses. a state president obama won twice, but george w. bush did pr pretty well there, too. campaigns on the ground actually matter in states. bemind to iowa, no question. can the field offices and other things get out the early vote, millennial voters get to the polls, 40 days to do it, a place where donald trump does not have the splaoperation she has. she's going to iowa thursday because it is election day. >> interesting. look at calendar and the days ahead, it's a blur. both candidates out there, all surrogates out there. similar worries about the clinton campaign, touched on them escalating to mini panic, a good number of leading

democratic members can't believe we enter the race in a dead heat. regardless who the candidates are you will have a competitive rashgs but her decision to disappear in august to raise money, and a strategy seems more about disqualifying trump than making a strong case for a clinton presidency has a lot of democrats mumbling and grumbling she's counting on trump to lose and not doing enough to win. add in, trump's stronger standing helps republicans down ballot. another big source of democratic answ angst, house and senate races. she's views as incumbent and these beginning debates, if don't goes badly for clinton watch for the private hand wringing to become much, much more public. stay with us all day here at cnn. watch every moment of the debate tonight. k coverage until then continues. up next, more live coverage from hofstra university throughout

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hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. and we're live here at hofstra university in hempstead, new york. whether watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we're now just a few hours away from tonight's presidential debate. the first chance for hillary clinton and donald trump to share the stage and to directly challenge each other over policy and politics. the game has been grandstanded facts and potentially fiction. millions in the united states and millions more around the world will tune into whatwhat's up to be stellar. hillary clinton's lectern shorter because she's shorter than donald