Outsiders try outlast other outsiders . Will the insiders, candidates chalked up as establishment, try to get the inside track among those rivals . Or will everyone single out the man in the middle of the stage and gang up on donald trump . Now, i know what youre thinking as youre watching the lead right now, youre not jake tapper. Thats right. Because he is. I want to get to the man right now who is moderating the cnn debate right here in simi valley. Cnns chief washington correspondent, ankh or of the lead state of the union, shut behind closed doors preparing for this occasion. Jake, first question tomorrow . First, let me apologize to staff and viewers for being so absent. I promise to return thursday, ready for action back to the lead. Weve been involved in intense debate prep questions. Making sure everybody gets a fair amount of questions and we prompt debate. Its not a series of 11 interview questions, or 15 as the case may be if you include undercard debate. That its not a forum where they all can extrapolate and give talking point we want debate about policy, politics, leadership, Different Things they bring, Different Things they have said about each other. We have been very, very hard at work, me and team, who are incredible. Youve asked four questions from everyone on twitter. You have a sense of what most people want to hear . No, because weve actually heard from literally tens of thousands of people and there are questions varied as one from a very passionate woman who feels strongly the candidates should be doing more to make sure that people at Football Games when they get evacuation notice on their cell phones should not believe it and shes against the potential stampeding that could happen. This is a woman who is active on that. Then questions about nato. Questions about abortion. Questions about government shutdowns, jobs. I mean, everything. The skys the limit. Were not going to be able to get through all of the questions but try to have as many as possible on a varied amount of topics. Youve heard from candidates, Chris Christie, benghazi, scott walker, theyre not going to sit around and wait like they did last time. Theyre going to make sure that their voice is heard. But thats not all allowed here, necessarily, is it . Wheres the line . Well, i mean we have questions and we have order. I mean were not this is a debate, we do want people to bring some sort of spontaneity to it. If they want to weigh in on a topic and i havent called on them, you know, well see what happens. But generally speaking, we do have an order. Everybodys going to be called on in every block, thats the hope, in any case. And were going to have as much engagement as possible. Now, i will say that the candidates who want to take the debate and use it as an opportunity to pivot and recite their seven talking points i think will, as they did in the last debate, kind of vanish. The ones who engage in debate and have exchanges with not with me but with their fellow candidates who i will be asking them to address, i think those will be the ones that voters hear because it will be, a, authentic, something that people are listening for, and, b, debate, was also something people want. Jake tapper, youre tough booking here on the lead. Thanks for being with us. I know youre going to kill tomorrow. Thank you for taking care of my baby and wonderful viewers. Appreciate it. Our cup runneth over with anticipation for candidates to stride on to the big stage in simi valley. Seriously, look how cool this debate stage is. In the 48 hours leading up to the debate, donald trump has been doing his best to find bigger stages. Last night trump played to 18,000 people packed inside a dallas arena and drove home this message, that the u. S. Is a dumping ground, he says, for the rest of the world, and their tired and poor that they dont want. Today, all hands are on deck for a speech by trump aboard the uss iowa, a battle ship with actual cannons as opposed to verbal ones by trump. As trump locks and loads for tomorrow night, his lead in the polls might be getting smaller. Reporter the stage is built but the tension still building. The cnn debate just hours away and frontrunner donald trump literally and figuratively in the middle of it all. The polls come out and were really killing it. We are killing it. Reporter tonight a new poll from cbs news and the New York Times shows ben carson closer than ever with jeb bush drifting further and further back. Carson was polling at 6 one month ago. While bush dropped seven points since august. So far, though, nothing and no one has managed to push trump from his perch. Whats donald trump say about the decision . Reporter when the going gets tough, the tough go negative. For the first time an outside group, the conservative club for growth, opened its wallet. Trump, the worst kind of politician. Reporter announcing they will spend more than 1 million on two ads in iowa Bashing Trump for what they call his liberal economic ideas. He has a record, and its very liberal. Hes really just playing us for chumps. Reporter not to be outantitrumped, governor bobby jindal pulling in less than 1 released a new video, too, attacking how trump shaps his Foreign Policy views. In all fairness, you know, what do i know . Reporter trump knows attacks are coming but doesnt sound too concerned. So, the debate. I hear theyre all going after me. Whatever, whatever reporter despite recent dustups with carson and fiorina, not to mention bush, walker, paul, poe ta poe tack i trump is willing to play mr. Nice guy, mr. Nice guyish. Many of these are terrific people but nobodys going to be able to do the job that im going to do nobody. Reporter jeb bush supporters beg to differ. A super pac backing bush is finally unleashing its vast war chest, spending 24 million on ads in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. New charter schools. Reporter to highlight achievements as governor of florida. Proven conservative. Real results. Jeb. Reporter hoping something, if not spending, will make people listen. While republicans prepare for battle here, Hillary Clinton is coping with slippage. A new poll out today shows Bernie Sanders now seven point up on Hillary Clinton in new hampshire. Theres a key caveat here. Among likely primary voters. It includes some independents when you narrow the sample to just democrats, likely to vote in february, clinton holds a slim edge, 4339. Cnn senior Political CorrespondentBrianna Keilar in washington with us. You know, you still dont hear Bernie Sanders name coming from clintons mouth on the campaign trail. But might we be hearing from the super pac supporting her soon . It appears that we have, john. Although it seems inadvertent. Hillary clinton, you really noticed this on the trail, she hasnt thrown an elbow at Bernie Sanders who is challenging her in the polls. She prefers to take on republicans more than democratic opponents but she has a number of super pacs that are supporting her, big super pacs, one of them called correct the record, provided some Opposition Research oppo, as its called in political circles about Bernie Sanders to the Huffington Post and paints sanders as extreme. It links him to the new British Labor leader Jeremy Corbin a socialist, the Huffington Post reports it notes sanders support for a deal with venezuela and hugo chavez to provide heating oil to low income new englanders serve years ago. The pac didnt expect this to become public and link that to them. Theyll try to operate behind the scenes but this did come back to bite them. Hillary clinton not taking saners on directly admits shes a moderate. Understanding which is unsaid, that sanders is not. Now Bernie Sanders fundraising off of all of this saying its what hed expect from the koch brothers, not Hillary Clinton. So, clinton herself seems squarely focused on a potential opponents across the aisle including donald trump. Yeah, thats right. And this may be as she sort of operates in this general election sphere, shes also seeing in the polls shes lost her edge in these hypothetical, headtohead matchups with republicans, not just donald trump but jeb bush and ben carson. And you see her taking on the republican frontrunner, she did it in iowa with a little bit of an impersonation. Here was her shot at that. I have to admit, donald trump is entertaining, i have to tell you. I really do. I really do find it entertaining. You know, i i kind of wuv i had that same sort of mentality like, oh, listen, i dont need to tell you anything, when i get there peace will be breaking out every where, prosperity will be reigning down you, we will have the new age. Donald trump United States a device for Hillary Clinton to really get democratic voters excited and judging by that crowd there in iowa, it does seem to be working. All right. Brianna keilar in washington, thank you so much. With debate day tomorrow for the republicans, right now, its like cramming for a final exam. Millions of people across the country will get to see the final answer. What plan of action will the candidates use to try to get their point across on stage tomorrow night . I will ask one of the men on that stage, gop contender, next. Big day . Ah, the usual. Moved some new cars. Hauled a bunch of steel. Kept the supermarket shelves stocked. Made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. Whats up for the next shift . Ah, nothing much. Just keeping the lights on. laugh nice. Doing the big things that move an economy. See you tomorrow, mac. See you tomorrow, sam. Just another day at norfolk southern. We were in a german dance group. I wore lederhosen. So i just started poking around on ancestry. Then, i decided to have my dna tested through ancestry dna. It turns out im scottish. So, i traded in my lederhosen for a kilt. I started with pills. And now i take a longacting insulin at night. I take mine in the morning. I was trying to eat right, stay active. But i wasnt reaching my a1c goal anymore. Man my doctor says diabetes changes over time. It gets harder to control blood sugar spikes after i eat and get to goal. My doctor added novolog® at mealtime for additional control. Now i know. Novolog® is a fastacting, injectable insulin and it works together with my longacting insulin. Proven effective. The mealtime insulin doctors prescribe most. Available in flexpen®. Vo novolog® is used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes. Take novolog® as directed. Eat a meal within 5 to 10 minutes after injection. Check your blood sugar levels. Do not take novolog® if your blood sugar is too low or youre allergic to any of its ingredients. Tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medicines you take. Ask your doctor about alcohol use, operating machinery, or driving. The most common side effect is low blood sugar. Symptoms may include dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headache. Severe low blood sugar can be lifethreatening. Other common side effects include low potassium in your blood and injection site reactions. Get medical help right away if you experience trouble with breathing, serious allergic reactions like swelling of your face, tongue, or throat, sweating, extreme drowsiness, dizziness, or confusion. Now i know about novolog®. Taken by millions since 2001. Vo ask your Health Care Provider about adding novolog®. It can help provide the additional control you may need. Where their electricity comes from. They flip the switch and the light comes on. Its our job to make sure that it does. Using natural gas this power plant can produce enough energy for about 600,000 homes. Generating electricity thats cleaner and reliable, with fewer emissions it matters. Whole life is preparation for a debate. Look at this face. Ill be center stage this time, so it will be more difficult for them to ignore me. If were going to step it up and be more aggressive this time. Damn right im going to fight back. I hope you would, too. Hes Going Nuclear now. The candidates there raising the bar all on their way here, the Ronald Reagan president ial library in beautiful simi valley, california. Right now hours away from finding out which republicans can pole vault their way to the top of field. Get it pole vault. Cnn Republican Debate 6 00 p. M. Eastern, main stage 8 00 p. M. Eastern. This is the lead, im john berman, filling in for jake tapper getting ready for the debate. Were all here to break down the practice film and discuss what we can expect from the debate tomorrow night. But first, we want to get a preview from someone who will be on that stage in a shade under 26 hours, republican president ial candidate and senator from e. Kentucky, rand paul joins us by phone. I suppose youre a longtime listener, first time caller, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. So in the last debate, you clashed with donald trump. You were the first in a way to speak up. I want to play a small bit of what you said. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes. Hes already hey, look, look, hes already hedging his bet on the clintons, okay. So if he doesnt run as a republican, maybe he supports clinton or maybe he runs as an independent, but id say hes already hedging his bets because hes used to buying politicians. Ive given you plenty of money. So since that happened, since that debate, senator, you have slipped some in the polls. So will you change tactics tomorrow night . I think that was a little easy on him. I think he deserves every bit he gets. I would say i will make sure that everybody in the country knows that hes a fake conservative, and theres nothing conservative about donald trump other than that he wants the trump brand to be out there, i dont think he has a vision for limited government, balanced budget, low taxes, anything of the things that conservatives have fought for for decades. Hes been on the other side of every one of those issues and voters deserve to know that. So just to be clear, the problem wasnt that you went after donald trump, you think the problem was you didnt go after him hard enough . Absolutely. You know, the thing is, not enough people yet know that donald trump is a big believer in using Big Government to take property from private property owners, small private property owners, and give it to big corporations. Often his own big corporations. And there are no conservatives in our party who supported the Supreme Court decision that allowed this, in fact, this is something that has so motivated the conservative base that whole movements have sprung up to defend private property rights. Its really the foundation or the Building Block for capitalism. And the fact that donald trump has used Eminent Domain and the bully force of government it take private property that he supports the practice, is a big fan of the kelo decision, i think americans know that when conservatives know that, theyre going to run away with their hair on firp theyre going to say, goodness, i didnt realize that donald trump was a fake conservative. Hairs not on fire, at least not yet. You have said not yet. With discourse in the campaign, you said the level of discourse in the campaign right now is like junior high. But you know, youve been standing toe to toe with donald trump, you certainly stood toe to toe with Chris Christie. Are you guilty of being a seventh grader here as well . I think talking about the issues is absolutely ledgitimat and talked about donald trump being for obamacare, for president obamas government stimulus but i havent called him ugly. I havent been calling other candidates ugly. And i think his words, particularly with Carly Fiorina, probably is the end. People are going to finally decide, do we really want someone in charge of our Nuclear Arsenal who goes around basically using the insults of a junior high or a sophomore in high school . I think really there is a time where viewers say, thats not the kind of person we want to be practicing the diplomacy of the United States. You absolutely have not called him ugly. I want to move on to policy right now, because i know you would like to talk about a lot of whats going on in the country right now, more than you want to talk about donald trump. You sent an email around to 100,000 pastors to help defund planned parenthood. You cited videos that show officials discussing what sounds like the sale of fetal tissue. Are you willing to shut down government in the middle of a campaign for this issue . I think the opposite question ought to be asked. I think congress has an obligation to control the power of the purse, it is our obligation and our duty to decide how the money is spent. And really weve been looking at this the wrong way, because people get stuck in washington so long, they say it takes 60 votes to defund something, its the opposite of the truth. When the money runs out, it should take 60 votes to Fund Anything and not only planned parenthood but a thousand different items that all have restrictions and have instructions on how the moneys spent. Every regulation that president obama has passed without Congressional Authority should be funded or not funded by congress and affirmatively take 60 votes. If the democrats choose to shut down government over any instructions we give the president , then so be it. But its not republicans or me trying to shut down government. Its me saying that congress should noted abdicate its dutie. We should control the power of the purse. Senator, last question as you head this way for the debate. Any special preparation you do, any stretching exercises to get ready for the debate stage . I typically will stand on my head for two hours, you know, before the debate. I think with all of the blood rushes to your brain, thats a good i