interesting. i think it has been so over himd. it might be like a super bowl. that was it? >> trump will play it very presidential and he won't go for the jugular. >> we'll see. msnbc's special jon stewart has left the building airs tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. eastern. "politics nation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. tonight, a special edition of "politics nation." fight night in the gop. one debate ended moments ago. the big one is yet to come. we'll go live to cleveland. plus, my interview with hillary clinton. she talks about voting, race, the gop, and whether she'll watch the debate. also, i'll talk live to her top challenger. senator bernie sanders about what progressives want to see in

this democratic primary. welcome to "politics nation." i'm live tonight in atlanta. we're just three hours from the main event of the gop presidential race. the prime time debate. moments ago, the seven candidates who didn't make the cut for the big stage faced off in the so-called happy hour debate and they had plenty to say about the man referred to as the, quote, elephant in the room, donald trump. >> i've had my issues with donald trump. i talked about donald trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his

conservatism. how can you run for the republican nomination and be for single payer health care? >> i didn't get a phone call from bill clinton before i jumped in the race. did any of you get a phone call from bill clinton? since he has changed his mind on amnesty and abortion, i would ask, what are the principles by which he will govern? >> the other candidates had their sights set on hillary clinton. >> to all the americans who want a better life, don't vote for hillary clinton. you're not going to get it. she represents a third term of a failed presidency. when bill clinton says it depends on what the meaning of is, is, that means is is whatever he wants it to mean. when hillary clinton tells you she'll give you all the e-mails you need, that means she hasn't. >> they're working hard to change the american dream into the european nightmare. >> earlier today on my radio show, i spoke with mrs. clinton about the republican field.

in what was just her second national broadcast interview. since she's launched her campaign, i asked her at this occasion if she expects them to address voting rights. tonight on the 50th anniversary of the voting rights act, would they discuss it? >> do you hope to see them address this issue since it is on the anniversary? and i don't know if you'll have time to watch the debate. i know how grueling campaigns can be. >> you know, al, i don't think i need to watch it to know that nearly everybody standing on that stage is the first or the second debate has either actively sought to limit the right to vote. >> their state or supported the efforts to limit the right to vote, if they were not governors

but in the congress. i personally think it is so nakedly partisan to try to limit the electorate to try to pick and choose who among our fellow citizens should be encouraged or discouraged from voting. it is part of their electoral strategy. >> voting rights weren't addressed once in the so-called happy hour debate. and we'll have to watch the top ten candidates to see if it comes up later tonight. joining me now is florida congresswoman and chair of the democratic national committee, debby wasserman schultz. also with me is e.j. deion of the "washington post." thank you both for being here. >> good to be with you. >> thank you. congresswoman, i want to talk about the debate later tonight in a moment. first your reaction to the first rounds of debates?

>> well, you know, reverend al, i think it is important for us to commemorate and acknowledge that this is the 50th anniversary of the voting rights act. i wish i could say that i was surprised it didn't come up in the happy hour debate. what came up was making sure that we can keep immigrants out of this country, kick immigrants out of this country who are simply here to make a better way of life for themselves and their family and no mention of comprehensive immigration reform. what i thought was interesting even without donald trump on the stage, this entire night is clearly going to be the republican debate starring donald trump. i mean, they couldn't even avoid within the debate that doesn't feature donald trump having the second question that the candidates were asked be about donald trump. that's because he is an absolute reflection of the hard core right wing extremist base of the

republican party today. and the line that all of the candidates are towing. >> e.j., you know, rick perry and carly fiorina were certainly eager to go after donald trump. did you expect that? >> yeah. i was not surprised at all. in fact, i thought of all the candidates i saw, and i watched part of it. fiorina more than any other looked like she belonged in the other debate. they looked like the discarded people, as a friend of mine said on that weird stage with no audience. but i think that the way the people on that stage in that happy hour debate would get attention was to attack donald trump. i was not surprised that they went after him at all. >> another notable part of the happy hour debate,

congresswoman, was the questioning. take a look at what the candidates were asked. >> you recently said that four years ago, you were not ready for this job. why should someone vote for you now? >> you ran for senate and lost in california in 2010. >> has your moment passed, senator. >> if the people of louisiana are not satisfied, what makes you think the people of this naigs would be? >> how can they trust you? based on that record. >> he believed the party needed new blood. does he have a point? >> you ran for the white house once and lost. you ran for the senate and lost. you haven't held public office in 13 years. >> congresswoman, help me here. are the candidates being asked to say, or prove that they're not losers? >> well, i think the bottom line here is that no matter whether it is the ten on the stage at 9:00 tonight or the other seven that were on the stage at 5:00.

they're really as interchangeable as legos. there's really no appreciable difference from any of these. between any of these candidates. they are all for repealing the affordable care act. they all support a position that focuses exclusively on border security and it would ignore the polite of families who are just here as immigrants trying to make a better way of life for themselves. they all would roll back the progress of health care in america. they would all cut taxes for the wealthiest, most fortunate americans and to heck with the middle class. it doesn't matter which stage and what time they were on debating. what i did think was interesting was that these guys at 5:00 should have been trying to figure out how to position themselves against one another. instead just focused on hillary clinton. they have to try to get themselves to the main debate stage for the next time. and i just was a little surprised that none of them

actually talked about why they would be a better nominee than any of the other people on the stage or on the stage at 9:00 tonight. >> e.j., another answer that caught my answer was when rick santorum was asked about same-sex marriage in terms of the supreme court decision. >> it is not any more than dread scott said to abraham lincoln said it won't stand. they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue supreme court. this is a rogue supreme court decision. >> comparing marriage equality to dread scott? >> that was astonishing. i guess any decision you don't like, you're going to compare to dread scott.

>> a decision that enshrines slavery in the entire country. it was really remarkable. i think it was clear what rick santorum's strategy is. the first thing he wants to try to do is to corral the most socially conservative people in the republican party. and that worked for him the last time around. it didn't seem to work for him here. in terms of your earlier question about those really tough questions thrown at these candidates. i'm all for tough candidates to questions in the debate. but i hope the people on the other stage get questions like that too. otherwise fox first picked a method that marginalized these people and then invited them in to be insulted. kind of odd. >> the questions the candidates faced were interesting. the questions so far. here's what they were questioned about. three questions on the economy. two on immigration, two on

health care, seven on foreign policy or terrorism, and zero on hillary clinton, though the candidates brought her up on their own. do you think we'll see a similar breakdown tonight? and what do you make of it? >> i do. i think that there is an obsession with hillary clinton. these candidates wanted to do everything but talk about their own policy positions or contrast themselves with one another. i do want to go back to the shocking response that senator santorum had on dred be scott compared to the same-sex marriage decision. look at the field here. i mean, it is cringeworthy but should not be surprising in a field a couple weeks ago you have mike huckabee who is on the stage at 9:00 who wouldn't rule out that he would use federal troops to stop women from being able to access abortion.

and now rick santorum suggests that the same-sex marriage supreme court decision is similar to the way abraham lincoln thought of dred scott. that decision constricted rights and denied people's rights. and the same-sex marriage decision expanded them. that's the problem with the republican party of today. they would constrict rights, deny justice as they have repeatedly done and any one of these guys who would ultimately be their nominee would make life worse, not better for people who are simply trying to reach the middle class. that's the basic message and the contrast we'll have through the campaign. >> congresswoman debby wasserman schultz and e.j. deon. thank you. still ahead, i'll talk with bernie sanders. we'll talk about this display from the republicans, and what he expects from the democratic

debates. plus, more from my interview with hillary clinton, including a look at criminal justice, voting rights and race in america. and of course the big debate is still to come. what will donald trump do? i've smoked a lot and quit a lot, but ended up nowhere. now i use this. the nicoderm cq patch, with unique extended release technology, helps prevent the urge to smoke all day. i want this time to be my last time. that's why i choose nicoderm cq.

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we need to take the rest of the entitlements. food stamps and medicaid and housing programs and do the same thing with welfare. work requirements and time limits. >> two big regulations like the e.p.a. too much new taxes on business that we have seen and obamacare. these drags on the economy.

>> i don't think anybody should be expanding medicaid. i think it is a mistake to create a more expensive entitlement programs when we can't afford the ones we have today. we have to stop this culture -- >> welcome back to our special coverage of the 2016 republican debates. the candidates are putting their check agendas out there for everyone to see and judge. and there's no question that economic future of this country and the fight for fairness are going to be huge issues in both the republican and democratic primaries, as well as the general election. joining me now is senator bernie sanders who is running for the democratic nomination. first of all, thank you for being here tonight. >> my pleasure. >> what do you think about the economic ideas we're hearing from the gop field? >> it is amazing how right wing

extremist the modern republican party has become. at the end of the day, what these guys believe is that at a time of massive wealth and income inequality, you need to give huge tax breaks to billionaires and to large corporations. at a time when the middle class is shrinking, we've got 45 million people living in poverty, what they want to do is cut social security, cut medicare or privatize medicare, voucherize it. make massive cuts to medicaid. they want to throw millions of people off health insurance by ending the affordable care act. some want to eliminate the concept of the minimum wage. they want to end the environmental protection agency. this is an extreme right wing party funded by the koch brothers and other billionaires. they are not representing anything more than a small number of americans. >> i remember you floated the idea of debates involving both

democratic and republican candidates. how would that change what we're seeing tonight? >> what i think, al, is the republicans literally get away with murder. because people don't know what their agenda is. nobody knows that their budget through 27 million people off medicare. off health care. nobody knew that they cut that pell grants by $90 billion. .2%. they have could be confronted. the american people want economic policies to protect working families. not millionaires and billionaires. they want to raise the minimum wage. they don't want to do away with the concept of the minimum wage. they want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. they want to make public colleges and universities tuition free. they want to expand the ability of people to vote. not go forward with voter suppression and undermining the

voting rights act. they want immigration reform. not throw people out of the country. the republican agenda is so right wing. i don't think it represents more than 10%, 15% of the american people. we have to confront them on that and having debates with them would allow us to do that. >> let's talk about the democratic campaign. i spoke with secretary clinton today on my radio show. and i want to play you some of what she said about voting rights. >> i can tell you, whoever i sit across from in the debates in the general election, i will be raising there because this is such a fundamental constitutional right. the best way to repudiate this, in addition to the lawsuits and the efforts we need to undertake, and when i'm president, appoint the supreme court justice who's care more about protecting an individual's right to vote than a billionaire's right to buy an election, is for people to turn out and vote.

>> whoever she sits across from in general debate, appointing supreme court justices when she's president. do you think secretary clinton is getting a little ahead of herself, senator? >> maybe. she's going to have to win the democratic primary and caucus process. and that's not for certain. i think our campaign is gaining a whole lot of momentum, al. not just in new hampshire and iowa. all over the country. we're heading to the west coast this weekend. i think we'll do events in seattle, portland, l.a. i would be surprised if we don't have tens of thousands. i'm a politician. i run in a lot of elections. most of the times i win, sometime i've lost. it has never occurred to me for one second that the way to win an election is to make it impossible for people to disagree with me to vote. people who hold that view, who don't have the guts to fight for

their ideas but who think they should win elections by making it impossible for people of color, for poor people, old people to vote, they are cowards. they are political cowards who do not have the confidence that their ideas can win. and they use simply brute force to keep people from voting. if there is anything i can think of that is not only disgraceful but unamerican, it is those people who are trying to keep americans from voting. we have to stand up to them. i've just introduced legislation that call for universal voter registration. we are way behind many other countries in terms of making it easy for people to register. that's what we have to do. we need to pass real campaign finance reform. not over overturn citizens united but move the public funding of elections. i want to see america have the highest voter turnout of any major country. not one of the lowest.

>> today the committee announced the first schedule. what in those debates do you most want to debate your opponents, secretary clinton, former governor o'malley. what is the distinguishing differences you want to debate them on and bring out to the public. >> i think second clinton and i have disagreements. i am strongly supportive of expanding social security. not cutting it. i don't know that the secretary has voiced an opinion on that. i oppose the trans pacific partnership and have been opposed to a series of trade agreements which have cost us millions of jobs. i am strongly on poetsed to the

keystone pipeline. i think climate change is one of the most significant global issues facing us. we should not be transporting some of the dirtiest fuel earth. i voted against the usa patriot act. i believe that terrorism is a serious threat but i don't think we have to undermine our constitution and privacy rights. the secretary voted for it. i think if we're going to expand the million class, lower poverty, pry health care to all americans. we need a strong grassroots movement to. stand up to wall street. that's what i have been doing for my entire political life. standing up to the most powerful special interests in this country. people will have to judge for themselves whether that is secretary clinton's record. >> senator bernie sanders.

thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you. ahead, the president today marked the 50th anniversary of the voting rights act. will republicans make a single reference to it tonight? they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ (dad) we lived... thanks to our subaru. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru when you think of the united states postal service? exactly. that's what pushes us to deliver smarter simpler faster sleeker earlier fresher

harder farther quicker and yeah, even on sundays. what's next? we'll show you. the main event is just under three hours away. we want to know who you think will win the debate. head over to our facebook page to vote on which of the top ten candidates you think will come out ahead? cast your vote now and we'll

show you the results later in the show.

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in just about two hours, the main event for the 2016 gop debate will get underway. in 2012, these republican debates showcased the more extreme radical side of the candidates and the crowds. >> are you saying that society should just let him die? >> no. >> the answer is self-deportation. people decide they can do better by going home because they can't find work here because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here. >> 2010 when i was deployed to iraq, i had to lie about who i was because i'm a gay soldier. i didn't want to lose my job. my question is, under one of your presidencies do you intend to circumstance up vent the progress made for gay and

lesbians in the military? >> no matter their party. these primary debates give data chance to make headlines and hit each other with some friendly fire. >> you're likable enough, hillary. >> when i hear your new ideas, i'm reminded of that ad, where's the beef? >> i'll tell you what. $10,000? $10,000 bet? >> i'm not in the bedding business. >> three agencies of government when i get there that are gone. commerce, education and -- and the -- what is the third one there? let's see. let's see. i can't. the third one. i can't. sorry. oops. >> what kind of fireworks will we see tonight from donald trump? that's ahead. company says they' three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do, drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement,

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gop's so-called happy hour debate. the candidates got zero questions on voting rights, zero questions on policing and zero questions on civil rights. now consider that the debate's own sponsor, facebook released a poll showing the top five topics. number one, racial issues ahead of mexico, the economy, lgbt issues and immigration. top of mind at an urgent time. today marks the 50th anniversary of the voting rights act. a law that has come you understand increasing attack from the right. i talked about that during my interview with hillary clinton today. and i asked her if she thought voting rights would even come up at the gop debates. >> i expect them all to give lip

service to the idea that has been disproved repeatedly but when they use to justify their partisan goals. namely, that there is this massive am of voter fraud going on. every independent group that has ever looked at this issue has concluded the same way which is that is just not true. but it doesn't to that them from trotting it out and trying to justify the unjustifiable. so i doubt in this first debate, they will be asked to justify their support for restrictions on the franchise. >> we also talked about where she stands on criminal justice reform. >> i believe we need to end the era of mass incarceration. if you compare arrest records

in, you know, in charging of crimes, in convicting of crimes, in sentencing for crimes. you compare african-american men to white men, it is as unfortunately clear as it could be that there is a bias in favor of white men. i think the best guide to what we should do, you can final in the recommendations of president obama's task force on policing. they provide a really good road map for reforms. >> these are important issues. and we need to hear where democrats and republicans stand on them. joining me now, cornell, a democratic pollster. a political reporter for the "boston globe." and rich, a republican strategist. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> cornell, what do you make of

republicans not talking about voting on the anniversary of the voting rights act? >> strategically i understand for the small ball. when they talk about the republican primary voters and republicans who vote in caucus. it is a soft spot for them. they are so wrong on this from where the may not stream is. place to the court today. the texas voter identification law. these are the laws republicans have been putting in place and they have been supporting and fighting for. long term, look. i'm pretty good at math. but every presidential election cycle the electorate gets 2% more brown. long term this is going to hurt the republican party that they're not engaging it. when they do engage it, they're on the wrong side of this.

they can't be on the wrong side of this when an american electorate that every election cycle is going browner and arguably younger. >> you know, was this a missed opportunity for the moderators and the candidates? if they feel they're not on the wrong side. wonderful it have been an opportunity to clarify even to there are own base why they take these positions? do you think anyone will bring it up tonight? >> now they probably will. you made a big deal about it. i suspect somebody at fox is scratching something out and putting this in which is fine with me. way back in the early 1980s. i was a press secretary for dan quayle. the voting rights act was coming up for reeventual. there was a big deal about block grants that president reagan was

pushing for very hard. and quayle thought if you're going to have block grants, that local people get to decide where this money will be used. they have to be able to vote so they can get positions on city councils, county commissions and thing like that. so i think it is an easy call for even a conservative republican to make a really good case for being in favor of this. if i was advising anyone, i would say don't run away from it. embrace i had. >> i'm sure you know president obama called on congress the restore the law. listen. >> in the abstract, at least, everybody believes in the right to vote. conceptually everybody is in favor -- of the right to vote.

in practice, we've still got problems. one order of business is for our congress to pass an updated version of the voting rights act. >> so are republicans candidates going to have to deal with this sooner rather than later. >> it would be really interesting if they deal with it tonight on the 50th anniversary. if you look at congress, there is bipartisan support for redoing that portion of the voting right act again. i would be really interesting to see some some of those tonight might support redoing the act. >> several have talked about

prison there control. >> let's show compassion. let's reform our criminal justice system. >> the idea that we lock people up, throw them away, never give them a chance at redemption is not what america is about. >> we should not live in a world of les miserable where a young man finds his entire future taken away by excessive mandatory minimums. >> shouldn't these debates be an opportunity for republicans to speak out about these issues? >> yeah. i absolutely think there is a good issue for republicans to discuss. it is a good they know the party should flesh out where it is. it is an issue about mandatory minimums, economic opportunity when you talk about the number of people who, this affects

their earning power the rest of their lives. it is a law enforcement issue and republicans get a lot of support from law enforcement groups when they run up and down the ballot. it is important for the party to talk about for so many reasons. i think the first person to talk about, rand paul. he has brought this up. he is very proud of this. i would be surprised if he did not bring it up tonight. >> i'm going to ask my panel to stay with me. coming up, will they be cautious or will they throw caution to the wind? and what can we expect from donald trump?

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will the candidates be cautious or will they mix it up? and how will they handle donald trump? the top ten republican candidates will be front and center tonight. one thing we know, they've been preparing hard behind the scenes. a new viral video proves it. >> for a debate, i go out and run. it's a great way to relax. you're not looking online. you're just running and it clears your mine. >> i call my mom.

>> what is megyn kelly going to ask at the fox debate? >> let me check on that. >> but tonight, the fun ends and the glove comes off. several candidates have already posted videos to facebook showing what they would ask each other if they were in charge of tonight's debate questions. >> i have a question for all the candidates in the debate thursday. which candidate do you admire the most? >> please give me your specific plan. >> don't you think we would be better off not electing another career politician? >> how are you going to make america great again? >> a lot of questions. soon we'll start getting answers. back with me is our panel. rich, are these candidates going to be cautious or will they mix it up tonight? >> that's a great question. here's what i think will happen. if there is any mixing to be

upped, that it will probably be aimed at bush or walker. not at trump. because, first of all, you have to gept past those two guys to get to trump. that's the first thing. number two is that, i think they may be intimidated. perry did that a couple weeks ago in a speech and it back fired and it didn't help him at all. i suspect that they will. i suspect it will be aimed not aimed at donald trump but aimed at bush and then probably walker. >> cornell, what do you expect from donald trump? >> i think, look. debate prep is something i've done before in presidential primaries. if you're a mike huckabee or a rick santorum, bush isn't so much in your lane. bush has this lane where he's trying to be the moderate middle

of the road republican. if you are in the lane where you want to go for the far right and that cohort, i think you might see donald trump in your lane. he clearly owned that resentment anti-establishment core grouping of other republican primary voters. and if he's in your lane, at some point, he may not do it tonight. if you're going to own that lane, you're going to have to take donald trump. on i think a lot of them will sit back and wait for donald trump to self-explode. i have a feeling donald trump will let them down. >> now, when cornell said let him down, donald trump by many people's analysis has risen based on anger and anti-establishment and a lot of dissatisfaction. if he comes off too tame, if he come off presidential as we say, where he is not expressing that

anger, that discontent, will he risk disappointing his base and those that have been supporting him feel, well, now he's getting like everybody else. he just used us to get to center stage. >> i believe if you made hit the far with donald trump and you're a donald trump supporter right now, you're not going to let him go because he was a little too tame at a republican debate with nine other republicans on stage. i don't see it happening. i do think that is an interesting prediction. james wrote about it this morning for the globe. it is highly possible donald trump could be the most boring man on stage tonight why. he would do that? because for him, it is not really as much about the message as the messenger. if he can show he is xenlt and even the slightest bit presidential, it will lead every news story. what if he talks about policy, the debt crisis, he brings in international monetary policy into it, everybody will be amazed and then maybe donald trump will get what he says he's

wanted the entire time which is for the media to take him seriously. >> but if he does that, rich, and he starts talking policy and he starts talking legislation, and he messes it up because he seems to have had problems with some facts and some of the things we pointed out. will he make himself look worse? >> there is a middle ground. i don't disagree with anything anyone has said. we're talking about this one two-hour block tonight. and i think that i agree with what trump has to do, he has to expand. he has to expand his base. he has to expand the people who take him seriously. as i said this morning, he has to get away from being seen as a balloon float in the macy's thanksgiving parade. he has to show some level of

solemnity. he doesn't have to be the guy who can balance the budget and go toe to toe with omb but he has to show an interest in talking about difficult issues in a serious way as opposed to just trying to bowl over everybody. if you are advising, who should they go after or what should their behavior be? what policy should they try and raise and become the proponents of? >> one of the things if i'm advising jeb bush, i am having them stay away from the trump stuff. he has to look like the adult on the stage form moderate middle swath of the electorate. he has to be their guy. he has to own that space. stay as far from the trump surface as possible and be

substantive. this isn't just about sub stance. i hate to drop this on you all but voters vote for people that they like. and they vote for people they like regardless of some of the other things. so i think jeb bush more so than trump or any other candidates has to emotor something. he has to emotor a quality that is likable. you can say what you will about ronald reagan. people liked vague reagan. you can say what you like about george bush. he was the guy that people want to have a beer with more than al gore. i think jeb's problem right now isn't sub stance. his problem is people look at him and they go -- >> you mentioned those that have come this far with donald trump are not going to leave him over maybe one debate. what do you think they expect from him tonight? >> well, i don't think they'll leave him over a tepid performance at a debate. if he completely blows it, that's a whole other thing. if he just tries to prove some

policy bona fides and i don't think his supporters will be that mad at him. i think his supporters want to see him get a little agitated. they want to see him talk, rail against career politicians, which will be very easy for him because they will be on his left and on his right. so i think they want to see him get a little bit excited but probably not overboard. >> i'll out of time. who has the most to lose tonight? >> i think probably bush has the most to lose. he's been a little bit rocky in the last week or ten days. the guy that i think has the most to gain and may well have the most to gain is john kasich of ohio who got into this thing about a month ago. climbed over the seven people that just had to debate at the 5:00 hour. and i think as more people see him in this kind of a mix-up with the other first and second-tier candidates, they may

say that's a guy i haven't thought of before. so i think he has the most upside potential. >> thank you, all of you, for your time tonight. it is going to be interesting. no doubt about it. coming up, we'll be back with the results from our online poll. who do you think will win tonight? stay with us. ♪ some neighbors are energy saving superstars. how do you become a superstar? with pg&e's free online home energy checkup.

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earlier we asked who you think will win tonight's main event. the results are in. 45% of you went with donald trump. 25% said jeb bush. chris christie and mike huckabee both tied with 10% apiece and scott walker and ben carson tied with 5% each. we'll be right back with what these candidates are likely doing in these final hours before the debate. except that managing my symptoms was all i was doing. and when i finally told my doctor, he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. and that in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened;

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it took joel silverman years to become a master dog trainer. but only a few commands to master depositing checks at chase atms. technology designed for you. so you can easily master the way you bank. just a couple hours to go. time to sweat as they go through their debate prep. there will be people advising them. there will be the experts, the managers. but none of them have to go on that stage. the one that i would predict breaks through tonight is the ones that do not see the american people. do not see the voters in the republican primaries as the back

drop. and only talk to their opponents or talk to the media. but the ones that talk to the american people, address them. don't treat the public like they're peeking through your window watching something as an imposter. the one that treats the public like they're guests in your living room and you're talking to them and it is about them. that's the one that will break through. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. a special two-hour edition of "hardball" starts right now.