this could change everything. >> one of the most anticipated political showdowns of all time. >> hillary clinton is a weak and ineffective person. >> a man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons. >> facing off for the first time. >> her judgment is horrible. >> he is temperamentally unfit. >> who will stumble. >> who will shine? hello, everyone. i'm john berman. >> i'm kate bolduan.

it is a beautiful day, not just the weather, because it is debate day in america once again. it's very real because this race is close. very close. pretty much tied, i guess we could say. which means it can't get any closer. which also means the stakes could not get any higher. tonight, less than ten hours from now, hillary clinton, donald trump face off for the first presidential debate. >> 9:00 p.m. eastern time, 90 minutes, no breaks, no commercials, no mercy. it all happens right here at hofstra university in hempstead, new york, long island. strong island. both candidates want the strong, decisive showing. we are joined by cnn's phil mattingly and sunlen serfaty outside the debate hall. sunlen, what are these candidates doing? we just got word from a clinton adviser hillary clinton is actually doing practice this morning. >> reporter: yeah. so fascinating to see these candidates in the last hours how they're preparing leading into the biggest night of their

campaign. hillary clinton's prep today really mirrors what we have seen her do all weekend, engage in day-long sessions of debate prep, going until about 11:00 at night. so perhaps she's trying to mimic somewhat of the late hour of tonight's debate. we know she is going through these full run-downs of a mock debate. she has one of her long-time aides who is playing trump, someone who is also described as being combative in nature, and her campaign is said to be looking for areas of potential one-line zingers she could prepare potentially to make the all-important memorable moments coming out of tonight. trump, on the other hand, was hunkered down yesterday and throughout parts of the weekend in trump tower. he was joined by chris christie and rudy giuliani and he has looked at highlight reels of clinton's past debate performances and while he is looking at potential questions and running through answers with his team, the big question is, is he doing these sort of full-fledged mock debates that clinton is doing. his team says that no one's standing in as clinton so it

potentially appears he's not doing that. we should see today, his team saying that he's ready, he's excited and perhaps rising expectations just a bit. his campaign manager who has been in on these sessions with him says that he is a brilliant debater. >> phil, what do we know about the structure's the debate? give us the goods. >> you think 100 million people potentially watching. between seven to eight out -- seven or eight out of ten voters say they will be watching. there was a coin toss. hillary clinton won so at some level she's won on something. she will be giving the first question. there will be six 15-minute segments. broken down, the direction of the future of the country, then economy, then national security. two segments apiece for all issues. the first question goes to hillary clinton. she gets two minutes to respond. then donald trump gets two minutes to respond to that same question. then they will have it out.

it will go back and forth. the key question here is kind of which position each takes on how this all plays out. obviously there's going to be no shortage of attention paid to how lester holt pays attention to this. you have seen both campaigns trying to work the refs a little, trying to get into lester holt's head, into maybe how we all cover this as they try to set the stage for what's coming. but how you look at the structure, it is going to be just that, structured, very carefully. we have the topics, we know who's going first. we even know where they are standing. when you are in the audience, donald trump will be on the left-hand side. hillary clinton will be on the right side. also because of a coin toss. >> phil and sunlen, stand by. so much more to discuss. want to bring in the political panel. new york city councilman and donald trump supporter joseph borelli, vice-chair of the democratic new york state party and hillary clinton supporter, christine quinn, cnn political commentator, errol lewis. he's coming, take my word for it.

cnn senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny is here. >> i love that you shamed errol. >> he will be here. >> no mercy. >> i want to talk about the format of this. we have six segments 15 minutes each, no commercials. that's one thing. two minutes for each answer. that's another thing. what does that mean for this candidate? >> well, with donald trump, the advantage that he has throughout all the primary debates is he could fade into the background a little bit as the other guys were talking and for him to hold forth against hillary clinton on foreign policy issues that he really hasn't dealt with throughout his career for 90 minutes will be really tough. it's also so fascinating how they each have been preparing. she's been doing much more of the traditional style cramming and formulating answers, mock debates. he's really gathered advisers like chris christie, rudy giuliani around him to kind of formulate answers. we will see how that works when

you get out there and are going for 90 minutes straight. >> structure is one element but also we heard the crowd is asked to stay silent. you can't really control it as we have seen in the primary, maybe, but they are being asked to stay silent and it's a smaller crowd. does the structure and that element, does that inherently benefit one of the candidates? >> it makes it more serious because the fuel in a lot o republican primary debates was that crowd. >> for energy. >> with the exception of the reagan library debate which was a more rnc type of donor crowd. that really got people going and that benefited donald trump. a quieter hall will be like the flint debate that cnn had with the bernie sanders and hillary clinton, largely very quiet. i remember walking up to donald trump after that first debate at the reagan library which was more than three hours long, he was exhausted. he was complaining -- >> he complained about it. >> i think the stamina is something to watch. that's why hillary clinton has been practicing at night at the

exact time of this debate. standing for 90 minutes here. but look, he has been known to give a campaign rally speech that goes 90 minutes long. he can certainly do it. one thing they have been doing on the clinton side is preparing for two donald trumps. increasingly, they believe that one donald trump will show up, the more sort of on message, more presidential donald trump. that could be a challenge for her. >> let's talk about that a little more, that more subdued donald trump, the kellyanne conway donald trump. literally the clinton campaign has concerns about that, because senior clinton campaign staffers have been out talking about it, talking about the fact that donald trump, they say, needs to be judged in the same frame as hillary clinton. listen to robby mook, the campaign manager, on the "today" show this morning. >> what we don't want to have is some sort of double standard where donald trump can get the most improved award but hillary clinton, you know, is getting judged on the fine points of policy. >> christine quinn, what does that mean? >> look, i think there's a lot

of latitude and gimmes that donald trump has gotten in the debates and every time he reads a teleprompter we all applaud when all he's doing is reading. the fact that he's not calling people horrible names, that he's not saying sexist or racist things somehow gets him a blue ribbon. that's not what you need to prove or show when running for president of the united states. i just don't want reporters tonight when they're watching it, then writing it, to be you know what, he didn't curse, he didn't call her whatever, and therefore, he did okay. i actually think tonight with the quieter, smaller crowd and the seriousness of what's happening, i really think the debate tonight is donald trump's to lose. that is not an atmosphere he thrives in. he thrives in a barnum and bailey way. i think tonight we will see he doesn't know the facts. we have seen snippets of that on the campaign but he keeps going on and all this blah, blah, blah. he will not be able to get away

with that and pivot to just make america great again over and over. >> let the record show christine quinn raised the bar and lowered it. set a high expectation and lower expectation. >> be very hard for him to limbo through. >> requires a leap and kind of a twist. it's quite difficult. >> he says he's the healthiest ever. we'll see. >> joseph, this is how john berman was talking about the kellyanne conway donald trump. this is how his campaign manager is framing tonight's debate. listen to this. >> if mr. trump has any disadvantage going into tomorrow night's debate it's that he's not really treated fairly. that's pretty obvious, if you read print reports and turn on the same station any point in the day, the coverage varies from incomplete, meaning it's all about him, negative against him, to overtly biased. >> basically, we are hearing from kellyanne conway that donald trump is the one at a disadvantage because he's the

one that has not been treated fairly. he's the one that has everything against him. so it sounds to me like everyone thinks the same thing going into the debate. how can both campaigns be viewing this through the same prism? i find it impossible. >> despite what kellyanne is saying, the campaign is very confident going into tonight. to disagree with what chris toon christine is saying, i think the clinton campaign is on the back foot because of the latest round of polling. when hillary clinton gets lost in the weeds of policy, she's not addressing her fundamental biggest negative which is her likability. i think when donald trump speaks in broader terms about his three key messages, jobs, the economy and security -- >> when it comes to trump and getting into policy, is that just stating policy equates getting into the weeds? where does weeds begin? >> the weeds are the solutions. that's where the problems and the solutions lie. >> you're saying 90 second answers might be a problem for donald trump. they might be a liability for hillary clinton. we can all assume she knows the

king of jordan's brother's name or something but can she answer questions on how she made the right or wrong call when it gets to things like benghazi and like li libya and syria. >> to be clear, you are saying donald trump is the favorite? >> i think donald trump is the favorite. >> because he don't have much to say. >> you already have the clinton campaign going after lester holt because they saw the performance she gave during the commander in chief forum. >> lester holt is -- >> you heard robby mook and the campaign priming the pump. >> i don't think that's accurate. the campaign has raised how people -- how donald trump and hillary clinton will be judged. will he be judged on a curve. no one has attacked lester holt who is a highly credible reporter. that's not what the campaign has said. the moderator does not do the judging. that's for the rest of the media

and the country to do. let's be clear. what you said was that donald trump doesn't actually have a lot of substance so 90 seconds will be easy for him. >> hang on, guys. hang on. we have another special guest. errol lewis is sitting down right now. >> he's here. >> he arrived on the set. he has his earpiece in. he has his microphone. >> he just likes to make an entrance. >> the trump campaign would have us believe they are not doing mock debates, they are not studying, perhaps, as much as hillary clinton is for this debate. is there any reason that we should believe that at this point? >> i think you should. the top advisers to donald trump have said he's not -- he doesn't get coached, he's not coachable. he doesn't want it, doesn't need it, doesn't use it. i would also say i talked with top advisers who helped ronald reagan in 1984. remember he had that heck of a zinger line that he said i'm not going to take advantage of my

opponent's youth and inexperience. it was a killer line, a killer debate. he won the debate, won the election, 49 states. but the reality is he had gone out and his prep for that debate was to go to a rally and get pumped up and sort of feel the energy from his supporters. donald trump seems to be cut from the same cloth. i wouldn't be at all surprised if his version of prep is going before a crowd after crowd after crowd getting his confidence together, getting his arguments together, maybe kicking around a couple of facts here and there with some of his top advisers but i wouldn't be at all surprised, nor should any of us, that he's just a different kind of person. his way to relax, get pumped up, do his own prep doesn't involve cracking the books the way most of us would do. >> we have been covering this campaign for a year and a half. what would demonstrate that it's at this moment that he's suddenly going to be delving deep into the nuance of policy and actually come out and talk about that? he hasn't done that in his

speeches and hasn't felt that that has been important to his supporters. i just don't necessarily see us -- >> that's a low bar. you are setting a very low bar. >> you are all about the bars today. >> he is preparing, i'm told, more than they are letting on. in a different way, no doubt about it. but he knows prime time very, very, very well. no he knows he cannot stuck bell on serious things. he has been reading up and watching hillary clinton as well. they have been watching each other. interesting about the fact checking really quick. she's trying to decide, the clinton campaign is trying to decide how much she should fact check him. that's the temptation that she may have trying to correct him on everything. that will not be a successful debate for her because she will come across as sort of that second grade school teacher you didn't like so much. >> guys, stand by. so much more to discuss this hour. >> it's super bowl. it's the wrestlemania. it's like the most beautiful convergence of those two things together. tonight is the night both facing the biggest test of their

careers, the commander in chief test. which one will pass? >> and why are facts so controversial? why some are arguing that tonight's moderator, one of the most prominent broadcasters in america, shouldn't concern himself with the truth. that's coming up. real milk vs. almond milk protein show down milk wins. 8 times the protein, less bathroom breaks.

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anything good on tv tonight? >> i don't know. >> that might be the most unasked question on earth today. tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern the most anticipated presidential debate in a generation, maybe multiple generations. hillary clinton and donald trump face off for the first time, as many as 100 million people could watch. >> joining us to discuss how the candidates are preparing, what each needs to do to win the night, senior adviser to the trump campaign, former congressman from georgia, jack kingston is here and clinton campaign surrogate and former assistant secretary of the navy, retired brigadier general john douglas. let us talk about the commander in chief test.

congressman, what does donald trump need to do tonight to pass that test? >> i think he just needs to be steady. he needs to give solutions and he needs to just articulate his vision. i think he's going to be able to do that. i think you can have a lot of pregame skirmish in and back and forth which is normal and to be expected but tonight is a defining moment in the campaign. this officially ends all the primaries, all the, maybe the academic voting has already started, from this point on everybody is going to refer to tonight. >> congressman, you say solutions and vision. does that include specifics as in specifics for how he plans to defeat isis? >> i think so. 90 minutes as you know is a long time. i think if the moderators step back and let the two candidates engage as much as possible, i think it's a fair question to ask either candidate what are your solutions for the inner city, what are your solutions for the economy, what are your solutions for isis. he has said strategically he doesn't want to tell the enemy specifics on what his ideas are, what his plans are, but i think

in broad brush terms, i think he will do that. >> that would be a change. that would be new. as you mentioned, to this point we have not heard specifics. that is something he has bragged about and also something he faces most of his criticism about. that will be a change if we see that tonight. general, what's hillary clinton's commander in chief test tonight? >> i think she's already passed the test. we have seen her in the situation room before, we have seen her make some of these top level decisions. she's been very close adviser to two presidents and you know, i was on the national security council staff for almost five years. i spent a lot of time with presidents in that situation room. it's a different atmosphere there. everything you say, everything you do has enormous implications globally. i think she's passed the test. >> general, if she has passed the test as you say, why does she trail donald trump in so many polls on the question of who is better to handle terrorism? >> you know our country is polarized today.

some analysts will tell you that both sides of the aisle are going to get a certain percentage of the vote no matter what. so often when we talk across party lines, even though we are friends, the congressman and i are mutual friends, sometimes we find that the other side just isn't listening. he knows what that's like from his time in the congress. i was senior staffer for a great georgia senator, senator sam nunn. we spent an enormous amount of time working with people like strom thurmond from south carolina, john warner from virginia. in those days we used to say partisanship stops at the water's edge. i think we have lost a lot of that. i think that's one of the reasons why our country is so polarized. >> what is the one question you want lester holt to ask hillary clinton tonight? >> i would like her to just come clean once and for all on the e-mails. why -- >> you think that's the most important question? >> i think it's a very important question. the fbi has called her reckless.

i don't want a commander in chief -- >> careless i think. >> careless and reckless. i don't want a commander in chief who is loose with classified information. the general and i have had classified hearings over our time and i can tell you, you don't mess with classified information. and then go out and say the other person's not qualified to be president, because i would like to know how do those things square away. i think it's a legitimate question. >> general, let us put that same question to you. what's the one question you want asked of donald trump tonight? >> i think he needs to go into some more detail about why he don't release his taxes. i'm refinancing one of my houses now. i'm just a common citizen, old soldier, and i have to release years of taxes to prove that i have the income to support the new mortgage on my house. he wants to be president of the united states. we know in his private life he's declared bankruptcy a number of times. >> his businesses have declared

bankruptcy. >> right. there's a lot of questions serious analysts are asking about his connections with russian monetary interests and so on. you know, how you going to be president of the united states if a big chunk of your personal fortune depends on the situation in russia? so these are things that the american public need to see both sides of the aisle have done this in the past, his running mate's releasing his taxes. tim kaine's releasing his. i think it's time for donald trump to do it too. >> real quick, donald trump tweeted that he may, perhaps, bring gennifer flowers to the debate. we all obviously know who gennifer flowers is but since we are talking about the commander in chief test, even though the campaign says that is now not happening, is that very commander in chief-like, throwing that out there? >> i think that's what throws hillary clinton off. this is a woman who has been running for president since -- >> this is something donald trump did, congressman. she isn't asking about donald trump. donald trump tweeted it.

is it presidential to tweet that gennifer flowers -- >> it's just as presidential if you say i'm going to bring mark cuban one of your most vociferous critics. this is what scares hillary clinton. she knows donald trump, if you hit him, he will hit back, unlike mitt romney who will let somebody like candy crowley command the debate, change the whole debate for him, you won't be able to get away with that with donald trump. >> you are comfortable with that? comfortable with donald trump bringing up the woman that the candidate's husband had an affair with? >> what he's saying is you want to play this silly game, we will play this silly game. i think she was not expecting that. i think the politically correct behavior would be to cower and say dear me. what he was saying is you want to play these games, i can play the game but the reality is, we do want to talk about the economy. we want to talk about jobs, about national security and i think that's what's going to happen. >> congressman, general, thanks for being with us. >> mark cuban does seem to be coming. still not clear if gennifer flowers is coming.

what's the one thing hillary clinton has to avoid tonight and what could donald trump say that could cost him the election? plus, the expectations game. the favorite game we play on debate day. the republican national committee has said clinton has a significant advantage over donald trump. ahead, the rnc chief strategist joins us right here with less than ten hours now to game day. boost

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i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. >> jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you are no jack kennedy. >> i think senator dole has richly earned his reputation as a hatchet man tonight. >> coincidentally, that's the code name for john berman. sorry. those are just a few of those memorable moments in debate history. many, many more moments that helped shape and change the course of the election. just hours from now here in hofstra university, it's hillary clinton and donald trump who will be the ones making history. >> joining us now, cnn political commentators john phillips, talk radio host for knbc and donald trump supporter, bakari sellers,

hillary clinton supporter. edward espinoza from progress texas and hillary clinton supporter and lonni chen, former policy director for mitt romney. four years ago you were doing debate prep of your own. >> i was puking into a bucket. >> thank you for that. >> i'm just going to be honest. yeah. >> vivid imagery. the biggest surprise tonight will be? >> biggest surprise will be i think donald trump's ability to remain in character for 90 minutes. i think that's really going to be the key. because donald trump needs to be able to demonstrate temperament and judgment tonight. i think if they have been prepping him on anything, it's going to be how to go out there with that temperament so people think this guy could actually be commander in chief. >> if hillary clinton has one thing written on her hand today heading into tonight, what is she writing down? >> do not cough. that's probably the only way she loses the debate. but outside of that, i think she

has to be inspiring tonight. one of the things we are talking about are all the young people that will be watching tonight. all of the people who support hillary clinton we know she's the most prepared, we know she's the most knowledgeable, she has the most policy chops, but tonight, hillary clinton has to, you know, channel her inner katy perry and be really, really inspiring. >> i saw that documentary. it was very, very good. donald trump, what does he have written on his hand tonight? i'm not making a hand size joke. >> not much. don't call anyone a fat pig. >> meaning? explain. >> that's the bar. >> where he got in trouble the first time is when it became about his feuds with various people that aren't hillary clinton. if he can keep the focus on hillary clinton, because she's the one whose name will be on the ballot and he can be the donald trump that was in mexico, he can be the donald trump that's been campaigning over the last few weeks he will do himself a favor. this race is so close now, if he's going to get that extra two points and go beyond where hillary is right now, he's going

to need some of these republican women that voted for mitt romney to come back into the tent. he has the guys. he needs the girls. he needs to behave. >> so when it comes to small hands, how low does it go? how low do you think it does go tonight? you think it goes small hands low and if so, who wins that? >> i think it's going to get ugly. this campaign is going to get ugly for about 40 more days until election day. but that will happen. the important thing is for both candidates, they have to demonstrate are they capable and are they prepared to do the job. you can't just do that by going negative. you have to demonstrate something that you are for, some sort of vision that people can identify with, and that's going to come from more than low blows. that will come from displaying what your vision is for america. do you want to make america great again or are we stronger together. those are the undertones that will come out. >> you said four years ago you were vividly decorating a bucket in preparation for the debate. >> whatever was around.

>> we just learned that hillary clinton is doing some practice this morning. we are less than ten hours to go before the debate tonight. a clinton adviser says she has more practice to do today. is that something mitt romney would ever do? what do you make of that? >> usually our practice was to keep governor romney down on debate day because that was his personal preference. we felt we had all the preparation we needed by the night before. by the way, when we were preparing senator rubio we had the same rhythm as well. try to keep them down on debate day so they can focus and get relaxed. >> maybe rubio should have had one or two more -- >> you know, whatever you know, you will have known by now. it's hard to imagine really getting much accomplished on the day of the debate. i'm surprised the clinton team is doing a mock debate today. that's a lot of movement. >> we're not sure it's a mock debate. the way it's been characterized is practice. >> not necessarily a full knock. >> she's on the treadmill, lifting weights? >> that's what i do when i want to warm up. does donald trump need to win this debate to win the election? >> i don't know if he needs to

win the debate but they have created such a low bar for him. if you look at the characterization of the clinton campaign and their supporters have put out, they essentially, it's not hillary herself, but their supporters called him a nazi, a fascist, compared him to members of the kkk. if he goes out there and looks like a reasonable tempered human being, i think he will win this debate. >> it's interesting, what john just said, because the clinton team is making sure that the media grades this fairly, judges them equally here, but also making the interesting case that the clinton team has actually set the low bar for donald trump. millions of dollars in some ways in advertisements and other things saying that he's unacceptable, doesn't pass the minimal bar. >> the irony about the millions of dollars they spent is that they only used donald trump's own words. what we have here is a soft bigotry of low expectation. donald trump has a very, very low bar tonight. the question is, can he reach that low bar. hillary clinton has to show she's qualified to be president of the united states and she

also has to show that he's not qualified to be president of the united states. that's the goal for both of them going in. but look, donald trump embodies the sexism, bigotry, everything that hillary clinton has fought her entire life to beat back. so tonight is that time and that moment where she's going to have to show up and because he embodies that, she's' going to have to knock that out tonight. she needs to win handily because women in this country, every day they go to work, not only do they have to do the job just as well, they have to do it better. that's the same standard unfortunately for hillary clinton. >> the knock on him is he doesn't have the temperament to be president. the knock on her is that she has the honesty to be president. i have a feeling when politifact takes a look we will have lots of pants on fires. >> how is that a knock on her and not on donald trump? trust is not something he outpaces her on. he's used to playing offense, not defense. if she can hold him one-on-one and not let him demonstrate -- dictate the tone of this debate the way he's done through all those other debates where he's

essentially the alpha male in the debates, if she can keep that from happening early on, it's going to put him playing defense, something he's not comfortable doing. i think it will be even more unpredictable. >> i want to watch this debate really now. thanks, guys. coming up for us, donald trump and his party there, they aren't always on the same page. how much input does the gop have in preparing trump for tonight's showdown? we have someone who might know.

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first of all this guy's a choke artist and this guy's a liar. i'm relaxed. you're the basket case. >> this little guy lied so much about my record. don't worry about it, little marco. >> we don't need a weak person being president of the united states. okay? that's what we would get if it were jeb. you are really getting beaten badly. i know you're embarrassed but keep fighting, keep swinging, men. swing for the fences. >> that was then, this is now. tonight, the general election, the first debate, 9:00 p.m., 90 minutes that could change your life. assuming your name is donald trump or hillary clinton.

>> here with us, a man not named either of those things. sean spicer, chief strategist and communications director for the republican national committee. great to see you. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. what a great day at hofstra, beautiful weather. excitement in the air. >> you always give a weather report. donald trump is your guy. how great of a debater is he? >> i think he will do a great job. i really do. i think it's in contrast, we are excited about him being able to take the stage tonight and i think that's interesting because you hear all the folks on the trump team talking about how excited they are tonight and you hear robby mook and jen palmieri and others out there whining, talking about how if the media doesn't grade him on a curve. i think that donald trump's going to come out and be the agent of change. i think he's excited for it. he's ready for it. that's a sharp contrast to the clinton campaign. they are on defense with a candidate who has debated something like 38 times. she was in the united states senate for two terms. i would think with that kind of resume and experience, they

would be out there talking about how she's going to really dominate tonight and instead, they are on defense whining about how the press will grade him. >> so sean spicer, the communications chief for the republican national committee, says this is donald trump's debate to lose essentially. >> no. i don't think -- >> he's the more expert communicator. >> i'm not saying -- but i think, look, he understands what's at stake. i think he's ready for this. it's interesting that someone who has never been on the presidential debate stage in a one-on-one setting the way she has, she's been in politics her whole life, she was in the united states senate twice, she comes into this frankly with a lot more time on the debate stage. she was a college debate champion. she is someone who i would, if i had that as a candidate, i would be saying our candidate is ready. that's frankly the nut of their argument for her to be elected which is she has this experience. when it comes to debate night, they are very defensive about her ability to perform tonight. >> kellyanne conway was pretty defensive saying that everyone has been unfair against him. regardless, i have another question.

jeff sessions, close adviser to donald trump, said about tonight, nobody expects him, donald trump, to know all the details of every policy in this government. it's september 26th. the election, you know when the election is. when is he going to learn the policy? >> there's a difference. i guess what senator sessions was referring to is that i think that if you expect someone to walk in and name every foreign leader and the budget for all of the cabinet positions, et cetera, and the nuances of every treaty name, that's one thing. you are not hiring -- >> no one is asking hillary clinton to know every foreign leader. no one is asking that. >> i think the clinton folks are trying to make that narrative out there about as i mentioned, how much experience and how much time in government you want. if you are looking for someone who has been around washington a long time and understands the establishment and the status quo, i think you should vote for hillary clinton. >> let me ask you about the moderator. a lot has been made about how much he should or should not fact check, particularly from trump supporters, who say that

it should not be the job of the moderator to check or correct facts. what's wrong with the truth? >> it's not a question of it's not just the trump campaign. you have heard other members of the media, people at the commission on presidential debates saying the job of the moderator is to moderate the debate, not to be the fact checker. hold on. >> so if hillary clinton, for instance, says something that is not true -- >> it is up to donald trump to say secretary clinton, that's not true, here's what -- this is a debate among two candidates, not among a moderator and a candidate. we saw respectfully that cnn's own candy crowley got in the middle last time and frankly was wrong. it's not the job of the moderator to get involved in the debate. it's two candidates talking about their vision and if there's a mistake or a lie or something that needs to be fact checked then it's incumbent on the other candidate to say that's not true. it's them who are debating, not the moderator. frankly, activist journalist is not what america is looking for right now. >> activist journalism is not

fact checking. >> fact check to your heart's content on cnn.com, cnn on air. it is not the job of the moderator to call balls and strikes. again, this isn't the position of the trump campaign. i think other journalists, the cpd and others have said the same thing. this isn't about trump versus clinton. it's the clinton campaign that's out there saying we want the moderator to do our job. >> sean spicer, doing your job. thank you for being with us. appreciate it. >> great to see you. the polls are tighter than ever. tight as a tick, they say. >> i was waiting to hear what you were going to do. >> that's ahead of tonight's showdown on long island. so what will tonight's debate, what will that do to the race? here's a hint. i think everything. >> everything. ♪ ♪

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we are live at hofstra university in hempstead, new york. hello, everyone. hours away from the most anticipated night of the 2016 race so far. >> 9:00 p.m. debate time. joining us now to discuss what

we can expect, executive director mark preston and senior political analyst ron brownstein. the duke of democrat graphics. >> yes. >> i want to know which audience, what is the audience that hillary clinton and donald trump are speaking to tonight, and is it the same audience? >> i don't think it is. great question. a lot of convergence in the -- really. >> yes. i think i heard that. >> a lot of convergence in the national polls. donald trump, among non-college whites, hillary clinton up, less than president obama, largely millennial spillover and the two even or clinton slightly ahead among college whites. that frames the challenge tonight. for clinton, clearly has to improve millennial numbers. 75% millennials unfavorable to donald trump. poll, 45% or less. some in the 30% in maine and less. for trump, underperforming among college whites. 60% say he is not qualified to

be president and roughly the same number say he's bigoted against women and minorities. the voters above all he needs to reassure tonight. >> we learned snippets of what's going on today. little snippets what's going on with the candidates. we hear from an adviser hillary clinton is doing some prep this morning and sara murray found out donald trump is also doing some debate prep this morning. the man who doesn't debate prep is doing debate prep this morning. however many hours i don't do math, left until the debate, 9:00 p.m. eastern what is the choreography for the rest of the day? >> great question. >> yeah. >> we don't know how donald trump is doing his debate prep. i mean, look, we don't think he's doing the same thing, standing on a podium 90 minutes. there's one thing to go over policy proposals and to have to understand it, which donald trump absolutely had to do. also the endurance test and conditions yourself to stand under hot lights, get drilled by

somebody acting as hillary clinton, being asked the hard questions, and quite frankly, standing for 90 minutes, no breaks. >> and we all remember, debates donald trump receded for long periods of time and allowed other candidates to be in the forefront. you don't have that option. front and center the whole time. >> asking questions about her stamina. people forget in the end -- ron, 30 seconds now. you've covered a few presidential debates in the past. what's is like in the room? >> electric. you realize the stakes. what people often remember about the debates are the moments of personal revelation more than policy confrontation. often when candidates reveal something about who they are you haven't seen before, that's what people take away. doesn't have to be spontaneous, can be scripted. like reagan's, there you go again, geniality, and michael dukakis' bloodless remark on kiddie dukakis. >> a window to the soul, debates are. they say.

>> just like your eyes, john. >> the eyes. >> great to see everybody. 9:00 short -- silence. nine short hours left is all the candidates have to perfect every one liner, eye roll, sigh, look at their watch, head shake, nod. you count it. what are the candidates doing during this crunch time? that's coming up. is that ice-t? nope, it's lemonade. is that ice-t? lemonade. ice-t? what's with these people, man? lemonade, read the sign. lemonade. read it. ok. delicious. ice-t at a lemonade stand? surprising. what's not surprising? how much money marin saved by switching to geico. yo, ice-t! it's lemonade, man! fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

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