that's going to do it for me, from the university of nevada las vegas, thanks for being here this afternoon. i will see you back again tomorrow. 3:00 p.m. back in new york. for now, steve kornacki is up on stage, he's going to take it over. hey, steve. >> good afternoon, everybody. i'm steve kornacki on the campus of the university of las vegas. tonight the third and final presidential debate, it's going to kick off in just over five hours from now. for donald trump it is desperation time, and that is not an exaggeration. unwanted sexual contact playinging his campaign these last few weeks, his poll numbers nationwide, they have dropped that gap with hillary clinton.

it has increased. tonight for donald trump, perhaps his last best chance to turn his fortunes around. the debate comes with two national polls out today. underscoring the bleak landscape for donald trump, in in the last hour, this poll puts hillary clinton ahead. bloomberg politics showing a nine point lead for hillary clinton over donald trump. any path by donald trump, looking like he may be blocked when it comes to the electoral college right now. in the last few hours, a seven point lead for hillary clinton. donald trump doesn't have to win wisconsin, but he would certainly like to. more concerning for trump, it's what's happening in the red states, the romney states, places where mitt romney won in 2012. check this out, arizona, arizona a romney state in 2012, a state that last went for a democrat 12

years ago. a poll out just this morning. that's part of that red wall that donald trump must rely on as a base. and so the big question tonight, does donald trump have anything left in the tank to stage a comeback in this campaign or is it as good as gone for republicans when it comes to the white house. joining us right now, hallie jackson, covering the trump campaign. casey hunt is on the clinton beat. hallie jackson, big audience tonight, we've been seeing these things. there's an opportunity for donald trump, there's also risk for donald trump. first thing, though, in terms of head games that this campaign is playing, learning about people they want to see in the audience tonight. i guess what, to throw hillary clinton off -- >> yeah, it's to try to rattle hillary clinton. try to grab some of the media coverage we're talking about, you have people like -- we already knew about, president obama's estranged half brother, patricia smith, the mother of one of the americans killed in benghazi. now, the one time fiancee of

chris stevens. people who have lost loved ones to undocumented immigrants. he's trying to plant the seeds here. the retired navy s.e.a.l. who spoke at the rnc will be here. the idea is to do what he did the last time around, where he brought those four women, who accused bill clinton of sexual misconduct into the debate hall. do you remember the moment, you could hear a pin drop. >> yeah. do they think that gets in hillary clinton's head? is that the idea? >> part of it is the media talking about it, and part of it is, that's what his base wants to see, the people who are logging on to breitbart, who are steve bannon ago lights if you will, that's what they want. >> casey, from the clinton campaign's perspective, in the first debate, we saw they came, hillary clinton showed up that night, with a trap she wanted to lay for donald trump when it came to the former miss universe, you could say they were pretty successful in doing that. last debate, last chance for a

moment like that, anything up their sleeves? >> i think at this point the goal is to keep the ship on a steady course, and i think you saw that in the preparation leading up to this, she's done the same thing she did the last two times, they feel like it worked really well, hillary clinton is someone who performs better when she feels 100% prepared for something, they were preparing last night at their hotel in las vegas with the trump rah gail ya one last time before today. and so i think for them, one thing the trump campaign has lost is the element of surprise bringing these provocative guests. their push was to say hillary clinton was not rattled by this, now they know she can get ready to have something like this, i think it's significant they decided they didn't want to have that moment where bill clinton and melania trump didn't shake hands. >> more surprises potentially to

come? we may have not -- >> the trump campaign is saying they may have more people that did show up tonight that we weren't seeing? >> let's talk for a moment, we put the polls up there, some of the polls that are coming out, in terms of where this race stands right now, from the trump perspective, we ran through it, the red states right now, some of those are softening up. >> the red wall. >> in arizona, might be in georgia, in utah, there's a poll in utah today that has not just donald trump not leading that has the independent candidate out there, evan macmullan leading in the state of utah, last went for a democrat in 1964, been republican ever since. there are signs here within that republican base that have got to be worrying the trump campaign. >> i think last night with utah, we were talking about it being stunning. i think that what you see, what you hear from people in and around the campaign, when you talk about polling or where this race stands. yes, he's trailing nationally, but they set aside the national polls, this is not a national

election. they're looking at battlegrounds, where he's still in -- maybe outside the margin of error a bit, but the feeling is, maybe within striking distance if he can pull together a string, as one republican operative said to me recently, if he can pull together a good week. when is the last time that happened? that's the challenge for him. >> i think the challenge as well, is that we are at the point where these national numbers -- the national gap is starting to matter, it's going to matter in places like north carolina, for example, where in many ways the race is nationalized. it's going to matter down ballot for the senate candidates, and i think that's where the clinton folks are starting to put their focus, i think the question was always, could she maintain a durable lead that was wider than five points. the last couple weeks we've seen this happen. >> it's not theoretical, we're not projecting ahead in many cases, the voting is underway in so many states right now, with early voting. hallie jackson on the trump beat. casey hunt is going to join us a little later. the last time me and casey got

together on a debate day. we did a game show with the audience. we had trivia questions about the campaign. we had cheap prizes. >> we have better prizes tonight. >> one of the prices is right here, someone's winning a foam finger. you want to go into that crowd, you can compete. >> we're going to bring in a clinton campaign senior adviser, joel thanks for taking time. >> book store's right back there, they have a fine selection i can tell you. so look, the trump campaign thinks they can get into hillary clinton's head tonight. tell me that last debate, the women showed up, donald trump had that press conference a half hour before, it was a surprise move. what did hillary clinton say after that debate? was she taken aback by it? did that affect her performance at all? >> hillary clinton is one of the most focused candidates i've ever worked with. i've gotten to work with some

very talented people. i've been lucky. she knows what her mission is at these debates, she prepares well for them. we love it when donald trump makes fun of people who prepare for debates. she's won both debates so far. and she gets prepared to have a conversation with the american people and the voters out there. one of the things we've tried to focus on is reaching beyond our base, talking to people in the middle. people who may be undecided. donald trump has been alienating people on all ends of the spectrum, democrats, republicans, moderates, independents. >> when you say preparing too. one of the things you prepared for was for hillary clinton to go out there and bring up the issue of alicia machado at the end of the debate. and donald trump took the debate, for the next few days he's tweeting at 3:30 in the morning. i'm sure strategically you were happy with how that went. is she showing up with another trick like that up her sleeve? >> i don't know if that was a trick up her sleeve? >> that was planned.

>> you keep delivering the message you've been delivering throughout your campaign. one of the contrasts we've been drawing. we need to bring people together. working people have a lot they want done in their economic lives, that's how they'll do it, donald trump has been pitting people against each other from the start of the campaign. his comments about the american born judge whose mexican heritage turned into a big problem for him. even with republicans criticizing him. even, you know, the muslim ban that he talked about from the beginning of his campaign is alienated americans who do not believe we should be banning people from coming into this country because of their religion. those have been part and parcel of what hillary clinton has talked about, because it's a stark contrast, are we going to bring this country together. because we're always stronger together? are we going to pit people against each other? >> i have to ask you about wikileaks, they've been in the backdrop for a few weeks now. these are hacked e-mails from john podesta, there's one from

you making news. this was sent a year ago. the backdrop for this, as hillary clinton was publicly reversing her position on tpp. she was coming out against the trans pacific partnership, you wrote in an e-mail to several people, supporters, people at the campaign, the reality is, hrc, hillary clinton is more protrade than anti-trade and trying to turn her into something she is not, could enforce our negative around authenticity. i want to ask you about this from this standpoint. this is something hillary clinton's critics on the left, bernie sanders supporters and donald trump have been saying. they are saying that hillary clinton is faking her opposition to the tpp, to the trans pacific partnership. if she gets elected, this deal, which is still out there, which is still sort of being moved along in the process, she will reverse herself again as president. are these comments you're making, more pro free trade than anti-free trade? >> give me a minute. >> let's start off by reminding people that the one trade bill

that came before her, she voted against it. she voted against it, because she's clear about what her tests are for -- >> it kafta. >> what she has said throughout this campaign against senator sanders and donald trump, we have to have tough enforcement of our trade rules. we also need to invest in our small businesses, new high-tech manufacturing, because we have to trade with the rest of the world. 95% of the consumers in the world, live outside the united states. we have to invest in american businesses, help them make the things they can ship to the rest of the world. it's totally consistent with with where she's been, she's not -- i'm always against her, i'm always for her. >> she started out -- >> the gold standard. say the gold standard, and -- >> when the final negotiations came in, she said, there are three tests she has, does it protect american jobs? will it protect american wages? is it in our national security interest. one of the final provisions that i'm aware of, that came in at the end of that deal in the

final negotiations, when she was at the state department has to do with nation of origin provisions, who is considered -- what is considered a national product of vietnam. china could have free reign to own businesses in vietnam, and that would still count as a vietnamese business, which gives china an advantage in the region, which was never the intention of the tpp, when she was at state. >> can you understand -- take a step back from this, why there would be some cynicism here, you saw this with president obama in the campaign against hillary clinton, he said, make me president, i'll renegotiate nafta. there's this perception that democrats especially play to their base in primaries, they campaign against free trade deals, when they're president, they take a different course. >> hillary clinton has said what her three tests are on trade and tpp now, she said there will be no deal on tpp in a lame duck session. and there won't be a tpp deal as it stands right now, going-forward. we will trade with the rest of the world, but these deals have

to protect american jobs and american wages, i think we have to do that when 95% of the consumers in the world don't live within our borders. >> thanks for stopping by. >> thank you. >> appreciate that, i'm going to talk with an adviser from the trump campaign as well. we'll get the other side in a few minutes from now. plus, donald trump's daughter ivanka was pressed on her father's claims that this election is rigged. take a listen. >> if he'll win or he won't win. i believe he'll accept the outcome either way. >> she says trump will accept the outcome. will he bring up that issue he's been trying to create during tonight's debate. in less than five hours, trump and clinton are set to face off. we're back with much more live from the campus of the university of nevada las vegas home of the running rebels.

they won the 1990 national title. later in the hour, i'm heading back in that crowd, we're asking trivia questions about the campaign, if they're right, we're going to give them some very cheap prizes. stay with us.

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we're back, it is a beautiful day here on the campus of the university of nevada, las vegas, the home of the runnin' rebels and the site of tonight's third and final presidential debate. it's set to get underway just

4 1/2 hours from now. we heard a few minutes ago, from a top adviser to hillary clinton, now, let's hear from the trump side of things. sara huckabee sand irs is a senior adviser to the campaign. we ran through the poll numbers at the start of this thing, you're down nationally, there's one out that has that at 7, one at 9. you're down in those must win blue states. he's got to win florida, he's got to winning ing inorth caro. arizona, a red state where you guys are behind. what can donald trump do tonight that he hasn't done in the first two debates that's going to make the numbers budge. >> i think one of the biggest things is to have that big contrast of the outsider versus insider. one of the polls you didn't mention, is that 70% of americans are looking for change. they want something different. donald trump represents that change, and hillary clinton is the total opposite, she's the ultimate insider, he's the

ultimate outsider. if he can make a strong case for that, he comes out a winner. >> can he do that? >> i think the performance in the first two debates was very strong, i think you're going to see another strong and winning performance from donald trump tonight. i think it's going to focus a lot on that outsider versus insider, conservative versus liberal. you're going to see some of the big issues that are big contrast and wedge issues in some of those states like florida, like arizona, particularly the supreme court and things like that, that are going to take place on that stage tonight that will help set him apart moving forward. >> we were talking about this with joel bennett, it looks like the trump campaign is trying to play some kind of head game here with hillary clinton, putting people in the audience, i guess you have obama's estranged half brother from kenya, last week it was the accusers of bill clinton from a number of years ago, is that the idea of doing this? is the idea that hillary clinton is going to see them in the

audience and it's going to rattle her, it's going to unnerve her? >> i don't know if it's throwing her off her game, i think she's been thrown off her game for a long time, otherwise she may have gotten accomplished many of the things she's campaigned on. >> was she thrown off her game last week? >> absolutely, i think it was a bad week for her. she came across as frankly very rattled and almost unhinged. it was not a good night for her, we're going to see another night like that from her tonight. >> i was asking joel bennettson, one of the e-mails that was hacked was from him, we were talking about tpp in the last block, there's a bigger issue here. marco rubio. florida senator raised this issue of whether it's right for republicans for the trump campaign to be making a political issue of e-mails that our authorities in this country were hacked by the russians. here's what marco rubio had to say about that. >> i personally will not be talking about any revelations that come about solely as a

result of wikileaks, our intelligence officials have told us this is the work of a foreign intelligence agency. what i would say to my republican colleagues, some of whom may be disappointed by the position i've taken, today it's them, tomorrow it could be us. >> today it's them, tomorrow it could be us. does he have a point there. >> absolutely, i think the bigger question isn't who is putting these e-mails out there, but it is what they say, and i think it tells us a lot about who hillary clinton is, and the utter contempt she has for so many americans, whether it's catholics, evangelicals, she has a real problem on her hands, not by who's doing it, by what it means for her. it shows the type of corruption, the type of lies and all this -- >> what you're saying, is, a few years down the line, the russian government could decide there's some republican they don't like, some republican they want to embarrass, hack those e-mails, put those out, and you guys are playing defense. >> i would hope that the republicans don't have quite the level of scandal and corruption that hillary clinton does. frankly, i don't think there's

any politician in america -- certainly not any i've ever seen that has that level of lies and corruption. obviously i don't think this is the right way for it to happen, i think the focus shouldn't be on the where they're coming from, what it tells us about hillary clinton, and i think it's a big problem for her moving into the final three weeks of the election. >> thanks for stopping by. both campaigns, as we continue our countdown to that big event tonight. both campaigns holding events, trying to get their supporters pumped up. jacob is with republicans, here in las vegas. it really is do or die hour for donald trump. what's the atmosphere over there? >> yeah, it sure is, earlier today, i was at the trump international hotel, where there's a very large protest against donald trump's efforts to not unionize that hotel. a lot of latino supporters of hillary clinton were out there. they were fighting against donald trump.

they had a big taco truck lined up outside. we may see a 2taco truck on evey corner. i'm at a rally right now, this is miriam, a supporter of donald trump. >> i'm here to support mr. trump because he has a beautiful heart. he's a gentleman, i know him from outside, and i have opportunity supporting him from last year, he gave me opportunity to be on this stage, and i met him because god give me opportunity, and after i met him, i know i had opportunity to talk to him. >> you said he's a beautiful man, but there are many people who would say including people i was with earlier today, union workers who are fighting a contract dispute with him, many

women after hearing his remarks on access hollywood, a lot of latinos, mexicans in particular, heard him say mexicans are rapists and criminals. what do you say to those people? >> well, i say, the kind of women are so weak like hillary clinton, other people follow hillary clinton, other people like me, like katrina and melania trump. >> katrina pearson? >> yes. i know what kind of man he is. >> unfortunately, we have to go, it's nice to meet you. on message with the donald trump campaign. if i can show you before we go, this woman has been standing inside this table the entire time. are you voting for donald trump. >> yes, of course. >> and she's inside a table, only in vegas, steve, only in vegas. >> on in vegas indeed.

we didn't see that head gear when we were in farmville, i can tell you that. thanks for joining us. casey hunt is back here with us. i'm hearing the music, i think they want us to squeeze a break in here. up next, we're going to talk about donald trump's loyal base. >> don't believe the polls. >> he doesn't win, that's going to make me question a lot. all those people that's going to his rally that's cheering and the military are backing him up. >> this is like the oscars here, when they start playing the music, i know to get out. why many of donald trump's supporters say they don't care how he performs tonight. they believe if he doesn't win it's because of a conspiracy. we're going to talk with our panel. that's going to include casey hunt who i half introduced a few seconds ago. much more live including our trivia contest with our cheap prizes. stay with us. hear from the campus of the university of nevada las vegas.

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we are back live on the campus of the university of nevada, las vegas. the third, the final presidential debate just hours away now. donald trump is going to walk into the thomas and max center here tonight. as a prohibitive underdog in this race, he's as many as 12 points behind hillary clinton in the national polls right now. all sorts of trouble signs for trump if he's going to have any shot of closing that gap, he's going to need to win a second look for a lot of voters who have cooled on him. trump has shown a commitment to reassuring voters not just reassuring those voters, he's been playing to his base earlier this week. in the presidential campaign's home stretch, donald trump is fully inhabiting his own echo

chamber. new reports that chris christie may be stepping back from his public responsibilities with the campaign. for more on what is playing out behind the scenes i want to turn now to my panel robert costa. we just read his article. national political reporter with the boston globe and our own casey hunt is back with us. we have news in the last couple minutes in the top of the show. we were talking about the surprise guests, i guess you could say, that the trump campaign is going to put in the audience tonight. >> you can add another name to that list, the woman who will be attending the debate tonight just confirmed by the trump campaign is lesley milwey. her accusations were circulated earlier today.

by breitbart. i think that announcement that she will be there. >> she is accusing in this breitbart interview, she's accusing bill clinton, an arkansas tv reporter, accusing him of unwanted advances in the 1980s. >> the term she uses is sexual assault. that was in the story of breitbart. we have not spoken to her at this moment. that story has been circulating now on the hard right. it's become a clamorous story, that's something the trump campaign tells us they want to highlight tonight. this is going to be an aggressive donald trum. >> this is his last time to go face to face with hillary clinton in this campaign. tell us behind the scenes, in terms of that strategy you're talking about, where is that coming from, reports that chris christie is stepping back from this campaign. kellyanne conway, we had her on

the air this morning. who's the brain trust? >> if you think about the trump campaign, you think of it as two people, steven bannon and donald trump to really go after secretary clinton and former president clinton that mabreaks the norms. kellyanne conway remains campaign manager, chris christie is someone who is involved with debate prep, the nexus of this campaign is being driven by bannon and his incendiary combative politics and donald trump who is in mind meld with him. >> trump talking about the rigged election, talking about rotor fraud, yesterday, you had mike pence reiterating that call from trump saying, go to the polls, be monitors, look out for illegal activity. this is a letter you got from a

trump supporter, i will look for racial profiling. i'm going to go right up behind them, i'll do everything legally, i want to see if they're accountable. i'm not going to do anything illegal, i'm going to make them a little bit nervous. how widespread is this? >> it seemed widespread, talking to a dozen people in the crowd. almost to a person. there was a feeling they're buying into the rhetoric it's rigged. you probe a little further, what happens if trump ends up losing, you get sort of rhetoric like other people were saying, assassination, a koups a revolution. it quickly goes into that territory, people are ready, i mean, a couple people are ready to go to polls, to watch what's going on, and when you ask, what are you looking for, it's outright racial profiling. >> how much power does trump have at least theoretically to reign that in. is it out of control at this

point? could he reign it in? >> i don't know if it's out of his control, you think back, john mccain had moments where he sort of quieted that down. mike pence the other day, when someone mentioned at one of his rallies, the idea of revolution, he said don't say that, let's move on. so trump himself is sort of not quieting that talk, he's stoking it instead. i think a lot of people are looking to him among his supporters and they reveer him. i think if he changed his tone it would change their outlook on the election. >> i think this is part of why you've seen the clinton campaign focus so much in the last 24 to 48 hours particularly, but the last week on these red states and expanding the map. they have always felt -- there's always been a sense inside clinton hq, this election was more than republican versus democrat. losing to trump would be near

apocalypt apocalyptic. with this discussion of a rigged election, they're feeling pressure to deliver a victory that's so overwhelming that it can't be challenged in that way. >> toll make a statement with this election. >> exactly. >> we're going to add to the mix right now, gabe sherman, a national affairs editor at new york magazine. gabe, also apparently with news today, you were on stage at an event, the vanity fair new establishment summit. you're saying donald trump may have lost a key adviser here in roger ailes. what's going on there? >> if you talk to people in trump world. you hear both sides of really stop speaking and being in contact with each other. you get two different version of events. during the debate prep sessions that ailes attended.

he told old war stories and was reminiscing about the past. you talk to ailes advisers, trump was uncoachable, wasn't listening to any of ailes advice, which is the opposite of what he's doing. ailes wanted him to stay big picture at 40,000 feet talk about big themes and not get down in the weeds and trump was not listening to that, so ailes pulled back. what we see this campaign is really being run by trump and steve bannon and to a lesser extent kellyanne conway, this is the breitbart campaign to the finish line. >> gabe sherman, thank you for that. it sounds like look coming into this final debate tonight, anyone looking for a new donald trum. >> i think gabe sherman's report is important, roger ailes who comes out of the republican world, he's been someone who has been blocked out of trump's inner circle. what's really happening right now is an attempt, we'll see if it works, to rewrite american

politics, not along right/left lines but along these populous anti-establishment, versus the elite line. that's the steve bannon world view, using donald trump as his candidate to see if it can happen. >> it's caused tension with kellyanne conway, she's looking at these numbers watching the impact of what bannon's advice has been doing and saying, this is not working, that's why you saw, they put out a new ad that's a little more sweeping about hillary clinton's been around for 30 years, but so far she does not seem to be winning that tussle. >> thanks for stopping by. casey is sticking around, we have that trivia contest coming up with our friends behind us. and also, more elected officials, they are speaking out against donald trump and his claims of a rigged election. >> people have lost faith in their institutions, whether it's politics, media, the justice system, i don't want them to lose faith in their democracy. our system is not rigged, it

works very well. we make it easy to vote and hard to cheat in ohio and across the country. >> how trump's own campaign manager seems to be backing away from that claim. what his former rivals are saying about it. including as we said we have that big trivia challenge we have all sorts of questions, all sorts of prizes, it's going to be a lot of fun. you don't want to miss that. [ "on the road again," by willie nelson ] ♪ on the road again

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trump's claims that the upcoming election is being rigged through bias in the media. he could debate that one, but when he dawks about the outright fraud at this point, no evidence to what he's saying. president obama said trump's strategy is weak and whining. kelly anne conway seemed to back away that voter fraud is an issue in this election. >> do you believe there will be widespread fraud? >> no, i do not believe that. absent overwhelming evidence that there is, it would not be for me to say there is. we know that people who are dead are still in the voter roles, people are voting a couple different times in places, you hear that here and there.

donald trump's point is a th laer one, there's a larger conspiracy, larger collusion. >> now i want to turn to ben ginsbe ginsberg. we're thinking back to george bush getting re-elected over john kerry. they had trouble accepting the results, we've seen that before from supporters of candidates, we've seen that from both parties. the candidate himself, and before the election coming out and basically saying, this election we're about to have, forget about it, not going to be fair. >> yes, that's true. what's going to happen in the polls isn't going to happen in the polls. you have to have some proof for that, you're in a pre-election

phase that we've seen before. what will happen in the polls is what always happens in the polls is a fair election with a few mistakes. >> will trump supporters given the way he's talking right now -- will that make it hard for them to accept what you're saying, though? >>. >> i think ultimately when you see the results, that's what people accept in this country. whether it's 534 votes in florida that got george w. bush the election or a landslide. >> what responsibility in the event that we wake up on election day and these are the calls that are coming out of the trump campaign saying the election was rigged what's the responsibility of the republican party? what does reince priebus need to say? >> all responsible republicans need to look at what happened in the polling places, they'll conclude there was not widespread fraud or rigging, and say you have to accept the

results. i believe the down ballot candidates are the ones who will end up leading it by saying, we were in the polling places, we had our observers there as we're allowed to under state law, we accept the results. >> that's my other thought right now. if you're out there saying, the head of your party's ticket is saying, forget it, this is a rigged election, could that depress turnout? it's not worth it for me to go and show up? >> i think the greater political threat is that democrats get stirred up by this, and the clinton campaign is going to do its best to stir up its voters to come out and vote and republicans end up saying, what the heck, it doesn't matter, because of the rhetoric at the top of the ticket. the down ballot candidates, the senate and house candidates all have their independent turnout operations and will be working to get their supporters out.

>> ben ginsberg thanks for stopping by. we're going to go live inside the thomas and max center, the site of tonight's debate for a preview of what we can expect from both candidates and more about what we're learning about who will be in that crowd tonight for that debate. we've had a lot of surprises this year. we'll be back with more from the university of las vegas. it says the fighting rebels, they're the runnin' rebels. they won the national championship in 1990, we're back right after this.

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welcome back to the campus of the university of nevada las veg vegas. the final debate will get underway just four hours from now. we're inside three weeks now, the stakes could not be higher for both candidates. especially donald trump. his path to 270 has been narrowing. it looks like he corporate get there if the election were held right now. kelly o'donnell joins us just outside the center. we are learning that hillary clinton is going to get the

first question and there's not going to be any opening or closing statement. so a little bit of information the there. what more can you tell us now? >> that opening and closing statement which is often a part of debates gives a candidate a chance to get a running start or make a big finish. absent that, this will be more question and answer, and it leaves open the possibility for some of those spontaneous moments. we don't know quite how it will all close. we're learning from the trump campaign they will have about two dozen of their surrogates in the spin room, everyone from the rnc chairman to the former government of arizona. the first senator to endorse don donald trump and some of the other figures we've seen on tv. and what we can tell you is that behind the scenes today, drummed already in vegas, spent a bit of

time today working with reince priebus on debate prep, not the kind of rehearsal hillary clinton has done. but a question and answer back and forth to help hone some of his message. to focus donald trump. in the past debates there may have been issues where he could have hammered away at points they think are advantageous. and they want him to make sure he doesn't leave anything on the table. >> from the clinton side of things, she's looking beyond november eighth and part of what she wants to do is believing she's already met the presidential level this remember hold to try to suggest that the country will come to a point of healing. the campaign season will be over, trying to push past the election to give people a sense that there will be governance in the future. without presuming she's going to win trying to set a tone that

goes past some of the rancher of this campaign season. that will be a tall order for her to achieve, for drummed it's really about trying to make a comeback after his polls have taken a hit with the allegations by a number of women who have stepped forward. >> kelly o'donnell, not far from here, that's where the big show's going to be tonight. up next, i'm going to head out into the crowd right behind me, casey hunt is with me, we're going to test their knowledge of presidential campaign history, and maybe a few wild card questions too. we have some prizes. going to be a lot of fun, stay with us, let's head out to the crowd right after this.

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we are back here live on the campus of unlv, home of the runnin' rebels, this is the part of the show i've been waiting for. we're going to play trivia, we have casey hunt here, we have a smart crowd here i think. she's going to pick our first contestant, let's go. where are you from? >> i'm from sacramento california. here is your question for a valuable plies. polls show a close race here, if drummed succeeds in winning this state, he will be the first republican to do so since who? >> i'm from california. >> take a guess. take a guess. you have a guess? i win the prize if you get this wrong. >> i don't know. >> anyone know the answer? >> bush many. >> here you go, you get a pair of socks.

pick another contestant for us. >> this young lady, what's your name? >> malicia. >> ready for your question? >> yes. >> if hillary clinton wins this election, it will be the first time a democrat has been elected to succeed a two time democrat since 1836 when martin van buren succeeded this face of the $20 bill. >> shorter question, who's on the $20 bill? >> thomas jefferson. >> jackson. andrew jackson. what does he get? a unlv cozy. we're up against the clock here. who do we have? >> here we go. a trump supporter, you ready? >> where are you from? >> maryland. question number three, you're from vegas? you're going to like this. the university of nevada, home of the runnin' rebels, famous for winning the 1990 ncaa

championship. for a valuable prize, tell me, who is the coach of that team? >> my husband and i don't do sports? >> he's a legend in vegas, there's a statue of him. somebody knows it. >> it's jerry tarkanian. give her the basketball. we have time for another. pick a contestant. who do we have? >> right here, get in here, we're running short on time. >> my name is jason, i'm from las vegas, nevada. >> you're our last contestant. the last time there were no debates in a presidential campaign was in 1972 when this republican was running for re-election, tell me who it was. >> take a guess? >> let's go with jimmy carter. >> nixon! >> i heard nix ing. >> there's the final prize. congratulations, any parting

words? >> trivia's hard. >> trivia is hard. but it's a great crowd. >> it was easier last time. >> that's going to do it here. chuck todd is live at unlv, continuing our coverage. stay tuned, we'll see you in a bit. i'm chuck todd, coming to you live from the university of nevada. home of the runnin' revs. we're four hours away from the presidential debate, and the trump campaign is teasing more surprises to come. this race is not where it was before debate season began remember all the way