>> thank you. let's bring in bill hemmer and dana perino who are on site. i don't know if you pert pete hegseth. he described the mood as nervous anxiety based on how monumental things are. is that the vibe? >> we will see. >> it is also 109 degrees. things are about to get hotter. >> have a good one. thank you, jesse. welcome to wisconsin. good evening from milwaukee. we are less than 30 minutes away from the opening salvo in this first debate of the republican presidential campaign season. >> eight candidates will be on stage in the fiserv forum behind us. they will be fighting for their political lives. a great performance could jumpstart a path to the white house. but a poor showing could be lights out tonight. >> coming up during the next half hour we will check in with our debate on raiders brett baier and martha maccallum. we will talk to a number of

experts including brit hume, harold ford and trey dowdy. >> kellyanne conway, karl rove and laura ingraham will get a prediction from sean hannity and a live report from the white house and from right here in hawaii. >> that is where we begin tonight. let's look at the final preparations. good evening, bill. >> dana, good evening to you. it goes without saying. there is a lot on the line for these candidates tonight. the first debate seemed to get the most attention during every campaign cycle. this means the debate tonight is a huge chance for these candidates to really make a first impression with voters who are watching at home. for those voters is the first time seeing all these candidates on stage together face-to-face debating ideas in person under the bright lights in front of a national audience. there will be chances for folks to have a breakout moment on that stage. likely because remember, it's not just republicans watching tonight. there will be independents,

likely democrats. the candidates know that and they are to looking to take advantage and they want to shake this race up. we are almost there. back to you. >> all right, great update. thank you. >> our debate moderators are in their chairs. bret baier and arthur mccallum have been working all week. what is it like? >> we are not in our chairs yet. we are backstage. this is where the candidates will be lined up right here and we are getting ready to go. martha and i feels like the first day of school. >> wouldn't everyone like to know what is in the binder? you will find out in a short time. on our way here we ran into some of those getting ready to come out. they seemed pumped up and excited as are we. we want to show you what it's like back here. >> the crowd is big. probably 4000 plus. they are fired up. they have been in the seats for a wild. they are anxious to get started. we will be walking out giving them a little preamble before everything starts.

then we will get to the debate moderator desk and start asking questions. >> we are looking forward to it. >> bill and dana, back to you. this is kind of like the oscars behind the scenes. >> i love that. >> it looks fantastic. we will see you guys in about 28 minutes. >> have a great show. see you later. >> let's bring an hour panel. brit hume, trey dowdy. brit, wonderful to have you here. what are you looking for tonight especially for someone like ron desantis? >> desantis is needing to get his campaign a boost. i kind of think that one of the things we are hearing is that he will be under attack. i wonder if that might not be the best thing to happen to him. he is a smart guy and we hear he is prepared fairly well. he has anticipated a lot of attacks. first of all, when you are attacked you get to respond no matter what the time limits are. it will give you more airtime if

you are attacked and more opportunity to make a sharp and well rehearsed response that might end it helping him. that is what he needs. >> he's taken a lot of incoming the fast few weeks. >> i am sure he has heard it all. he prepared for as much of it as he can. >> all right, brit. trey came with a few ideas. what do your notes tell you? >> it's a celebration of democracy. sometimes we overlook it. there is a lot of excitement here in milwaukee. everyone doesn't get to pick their own leaders. the fact that we get to hear them tonight and debate one another is worth celebrating. it's also a chance to plus up your weaknesses. he is perceived as being too nice. i'm not sure you can be too nice. people say too nice. is he enough of a fighter? it's a chance tonight to say i do have another side to me. you cannot only accentuate his strength but plus up a weakness in the debate tonight. >> they say you should always

marry the nice guy. you are a nice guy as well. harold ford jr. has debated not on the presidential stage yet. we are waiting to see that. when you are in these moments just before the debate, how important is it to remember who you are rather than who the consultants told you to be? >> it's probably the best thing to think about. when you get in one of these races and we have been in races before, you are reminded that campaigns and politics are about people. i was working out this morning to the oliver anthony song of rich men north of richmond. it remind you that at your best and politics at its best response to people and they respond to people's aspirations. tonight the candidates will do two things. most of them know who they are and they know who donald trump is. they will have a real opportunity to present themselves and ideas. they talk about how they will solve problems the way brit talked about earlier today. at the same time reach across

the aisle. that room is electric right now in that auditorium. everybody feels like it's the first day of school. most of the people are republicans but they are old pals. i was walking through the halls and enjoying that. finally, president trump chose not to come. i think depending on how well everyone does tonight, whether it's desantis or ramaswamy or chris christie, nikki haley, i hope tim scott and nikki haley find a way to break through. i wonder if president trump will regret not coming tonight depending on how the night they have. >> gentleman, standby. when we come back, who will break out and who will back down. >> we will get predictions abour what will happen durinedg tonight's debate. e the great de, but america fought back. today, unemployment is at record lows. our economy leading the world. joe biden passed historic laws to rebuild the country, but he knows it's the american people who are the heroes of this story.

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looks like 20 minutes on the clock for the big countdown. president biden is on vacation out west in california. earlier today democratic party officials refused to commit the president to debating the eventual republican nominee during the general election. peter doocy joins us tonight from the north londo the white house. good evening, peter. >> far from the spin room. president biden took a spin class. when he emerged to continue vacationing, he said he will try to watch as much of tonight's debate as he can. the biden campaign staffer texted me this afternoon to let me know arc brandon will also be watching. that is the meme a digital savvy staff are used to try to make the president come across as a powerful and shadowy figure. expect the biden counter programming to focus heavily on abortion, particularly the democrats want to expand access. republicans want to limit access. everybody that you see on stage tonight wants a chance to eventually debate president

biden. if he shows, today his team would not commit to a general election debate despite many, many promises to restore norms. bill? >> peter, thank you. peter doocy from the white house. >> what happened to return to normal? let's bring in laura ingraham. she is not normal. she is unique and she is here with her take. laura, what do you look forward tonight on a night like tonight? >> i love that i am not normal. newsflash, dana and bill, of course not. people talk about the break out moments. i look for moments where people surprise you. so if you think someone is stiff or too aloof, there is maybe a moment of self-deprecation or a moment of humor that you are not really respecting. or if someone is more known as an establishment figure, they say wait a second, i can be as populous as the next guy. it all has to be believable and

credible. voters are looking for someone who can both relate and deliver. relate to them and their problems but deliver results and solutions that we actually know. that in a nutshell is what people are looking at. >> sounds good. i think they have a chance to play out this audience too. they really want to hear some ideas tonight, laura. >> yeah. people are going to be taking on biden, argosy. people will be swiping at each other. but in the end americans know what the problems are facing the country. they need to believe that you don't just relate to them, but you can actually solve the problems. before you solve the problems you have to be able to beat biden, which means you have to get to 270 electoral votes. what states that trump did not win are you able to win? can you make your case credibly to a very skeptical, sometimes skeptical, public. trump has a huge lead. candidates will have to show

that i am actually going to win this. he did not win last time. i will win at this time. that's a heavy lift. but anything can happen tonight. to act loved having you on the preview show. thank you so much, laura ingraham. good to see you. >> we will get some predictions. sean hannity has made his way to milwaukee. good evening, sir. >> my two favorite people or two of my most favorite people in the world. great to see you guys. i hope to see you in a few moments in person. we are not that far apart. welcome to milwaukee. it will be a fun night tonight. >> sean, as you look at this, ate on stage. what do you hope to see? what do you think we will see? >> laura used a word that i often use about debates. you are looking for moments. you can think back about ronald reagan. i will not let my opponents youth and an experience be a factor in this campaign. the whole room erupts. even walter mondale started

laughing it was such a good line. that was a moment. on the other side of it lloyd benson, jack kennedy, that was a mean low blow by benzan towards dan quayle. i would say look who comes in there and is comfortable. i would think vivek will surprise a lot of people. he seems comfortable in front of a camera. he seems ready to go. i just saw a ron desantis. he seemed ready to go and seemed in a great mood, lighthearted. i saw mike pence. i think for all of the talk about donald trump not coming, i think these guys should be glad he is not coming. he sucks out about 98.5% of all the oxygen in the room. this hopefully will give them an opportunity. if i was them i would focus less on attacking other people there and explaining to america what are the values you hold dear? what are the principles, the governing principles? how will you fix the economy? what will you do on the border?

what will you do with law and order? as america how do we take back its position as the dominant world leader, the sole superpower in the world? which i think joe biden has abdicated. comparing and contrasting conservative ideas with joe biden's failures would be a good strategy tonight. >> you are in the spin room. we will see if you are right. afterwards we will go right to you. nice to see you tonight. >> when you guys are on tomorrow i expect you both to grade me and see if my predictions are right. >> we will do that. we will shoot you a text. >> we are his favorite people so we will get a high-grade. thank you so much. the first punch in tonight's verbal fest are about to be thrown. the candidates are about to take the stage. >> we will get last-minute analysis from karl rove and kellyanne conway. you can see the stage inside. brit and martha warming up. natalie is about to sing the

national anthem. do not miss a moment.

welcome back to milwaukee. minutes away from the main political event of the center. she runs the rnc and his pretty much the commander-in-chief of this event tonight. she has about 4000 guests with hour. >> she is being pulled in a lot of different directions. let's get some last-minute analysis from karl rove and kellyanne conway. let's start with kelly anne beile you had a piece on foxnews.com about the six key things you will look for. has that changed over the course of the day? >> it has not. i made point in that statement that politically speaking no one had a better 2022 then ron desantis and no one has had a worse 2023 then ron desantis. he has a chance to reset and regain the attraction and excitement around his campaign. he has debated in the past andrew putna him, charlie crist. the other season debaters chris cristi and mike pence know their way around the podium.

they will not have any stage fright. i believe the task for each of these candidates is to portray confidence, but also to project competence. if you are hung up on something or somebody is making you angry it is important to stay calm and remember your audience is not each other. it's not even the moderators necessarily. the audience is we the people. look in the camera and take your case directly to the people. last thing, all these candidates are under pressure and none of them are under oath. i know our moderators martha and brett will press them hard on the suppositions and salesmanship they are trying to make tonight. that's important too. >> in a moment we expect the candidates to walk out. standby for that. if we have to interrupt carl, we shall. in the meantime set the stage for what is on your mind. 10 minutes to go. >> everybody has this debate with a plan. that will last as long as they

get a question that throws them off the plan. but having an idea of what it is they want to share with the audience, the kind of points you want to make, the values you want to share, the kind of record you want to lay out and most important of all what it is you want to depict you as being the president of the united states. things are all important and the candidate should return to them as often as they can do so appropriately in the debate. it is a must stakes game. i just hard to keep on playing, but you have to walk in with a plan and try to stick to it. >> that is the mike tyson theory. >> the candidates are walking out now. let's take a look as they line up. it was by order of polling. that is how you see this ended up. you have vivek ramaswamy and ron desantis in the middle. nikki haley in light blue. mike pence on either side of them. these candidates get ready to take the stage. they will have a chance to see

each other after trading barbs in the press. >> what is interesting is ramaswamy and nikki haley are next to each other. they have kind of gone at it in one form or another based on foreign policy. i would expect to see something from her directed towards him. ron desantis, brit mentioned this a few moments ago. he has been under fire the past four weeks. we will see how he rebounds tonight. >> governor doug burgum is on the right of your screen. he was in the hospital this morning having torn his achilles tendon. asa hutchinson was the last addition to the debate stage on your left. he's the governor of arkansas. >> we interrupted karl. your final thought before tonight begins? >> well, look. these men and women have prepared for this event tonight. literally every bit of preparation goes out the window when you actually go onto the stage. it is a unique environment that they really haven't prepared themselves for.

there is no way you can. how well they do tonight will be a testament to the own abilities and their abilities to adjust to the change in circumstances they find themselves in. >> good stuff. thank you karl and kelly and. we will see you in minutes. doug burgum, by the way, is far stage right. playing basketball this morning he tore his achilles tendon. he showed up in the green room earlier today on crutches. i did not see him on crutches. it looked to he had some sort of leg brace on. >> compared to what the men and women in blue do for us, he said this was nothing. we are back with our panel. brit hume, trey gowdy. what about trump not being here tonight. how do they deal with that? >> i guess the pretaped interview with tucker carlson for presentation on twitter. i am interesting to see how that will go and whether any news is made out of that. it is risky to skip a debate. we saw what happened to ronald reagan win he skipped the iowa

debate in 1980. he lost the state and propelled george h.w. bush to the lead for a time. ronald reagan eventually overtook him and won the nomination. i don't think george h.w. bush would have been president if he hadn't won iowa in 1980. he wouldn't have gotten the vice presidential nomination. he had a foothold in the race and stayed in and ended up being president of the united states. it can be consequential skipping debates. >> we haven't spoken about chris christie yet. how do you view his strategy tonight? he's talked about going after donald trump and he has talked perhaps about putting ron desantis in his crosshairs tonight. >> bill, all eight have something in common. they are behind. they are behind a lot to the guy who is not there. they can quarrel among themselves, but they have to catch secretariat right now. you better make the case, same ideas, fewer indictments. somebody has got to make the case. i've got the same idea as donald

trump has, but you don't need to worry about me making initial appearances and whether or not i can make bond if i am the president. unless you make that case to trump supporters. they will stay behind. >> josh has been making the point that this is no longer survive in advance. you have to knock somebody out when you are that far behind. >> i hope that trey gave the advice to a candidate out of south carolina that he just gave us here on the set. foreign policy will play a lot more prominently. we were talking about this earlier. the candidates will be able to distinguish and differentiate themselves. it is made on jesse watters today that he said if he hopes these guys are not looking to get applause. they are looking for the silent approval. they are giving leadership big vision for the country. if they are able to do that the country will win. public discourse is the best for democracy. we will see a little bit of tonight. >> does that work? >> i think it can.

foreign-policy is way down on the list when you ask people what they are interested in. i would be disappointed if we didn't have a real discussion particularly about whether it's controversial among republicans now to stick with it in ukraine. >> interesting. we've had developments in russia today. trey, when you talk to a lot of people in milwaukee they bring up immigration. and in the past 11 months upwards of 140 people on the no-fly list have been apprehended at the border. that's an all-time record. you wonder what the long-standing effect of that could be for our own national security? >> i think you are right and they are right. what shocked me was during the midterms people who listed the border as their number one issue kind of broke 55-45. he would think republicans would do well among people who say the border is the number one issue. but they don't. the same with crime. the fact that they think border and immigration is number one doesn't necessarily mean they will break republican.

>> harold? number two in that pole is guns and crime. we will raise that issue. >> what about the economy? how do you frame this tonight for the eight republicans? >> they have to give us answers, give us thoughts. it's easy to say what biden is doing an bidenomics is not working. give us plans and ideas. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> it is close to 9:00 eastern time. almost time for brit and martha and the first primary debate of the cycle. here we go, america. before we go, let's make an entrance. >> i would love to do this. check this out. we are going to take you back inside fiserv forum to hear nine time grammy nominee and five-time cma the of mill vocalist of the are natalie grant singing our national anthem. >> she is outstanding and so is this. this is a live drone shot working its way through the arena. as we showed you this morning you want to grab your popcorn.

>> i was thinking tonight i would love one of those pretzels with some wisconsin cheese. >> this is natalie grant. let's go. through the perilous fight o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? and the rockets' red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? what a stirring way to begin the first primary debate of this 2024 election season. the candidates are on the stage. martha and brit, are going to start the questioning. >> it almost makes you feel like play ball, right harold? let's go inside fiserv arena. the people in milwaukee have been fantastic. they are giving us their best tonight. 4000 strong inside. you are about to see the first

event of the political season. where we end up in november of 2024 is any one's guess. tonight is the first step in that direction. enjoy it america. we will see you tomorrow morning. take it from here, good night. some call it the heartland. others flyover country. but for the 2024 presidential hopefuls, the midwest is the place to land. here, there is one battle ground that may be harder to win than ever. wisconsin. a state known for its beer and cheese, gridiron and grit and also