First question and two minutes answer. And donald trump has two minutes to respond and then begins ten minutes of open debate and conversation. The debate is expected to last 90 minutes, no commercial introduction. Divided into six sections. With no breaks. Once again, no commercial interruptions. In the republican and democratic primary debates, of course, we heard a lot from the audience, lots of cheers, lots of booing. Tonight, the audience here at Hofstra University has been instructed to be respectful and to be quiet. You can also forget about any electronic noises as in buzzers, moderator lester holt will be the sole timekeeper keeping the candidates hon effoest and on t. Hillary clinton is hunkered down preparing for tonights debate, donald trump is taking a less traditional approach, trump is not a fan of mock debates. So how has he been preparing . Reince preiebus is with us. Thank you, wolf. Glad to be here. What has donald trump been doing . Studying, preparing, going through hypotheticals and what scenarios might come up, but hes very comfortable. He did a great job in our primary debates. Hes also been through, what, 14 seasons, season finales. He will be prepared. Hes always showed up for, for the big dance, and he will be prepared and hell be ready to go tonight. Has there been a mock debate . Has someone played Hillary Clinton, for example . Oh, we dont want to get into those details, but i can tell you, though, he has taken it very seriously, but the truth is, you look at Hillary Clinton, wolf. Shes been doing this almost 30 years. I mean, preparing to try to hit this thing out of the park. People are expecting her to. Its a pretty high bar but shes expected to do that. Shes mocked debating even today, and, you know, i expect hes going to want to get in the weeds on every policy ever involved with, even though she hasnt been able to dleliver whn shes had the opportunity. Your good friend, house speaker, senator ryan, advice for donald trump on face the nation. Listen to this. Look, Hillary Clintons been doing this most of her life. She is the consummate pro. This is new for donald. I think he should obviously over prepare for it. The thing i believe, obviously, i prepared for these myself. You have to offer the country a vision, go on offense, prosecute your case, hold your opponent accountable, but then show the country the direction you want to go, and prepare, prepare, prepare. And i hope hes doing that. He was the Vice President ial nominee what, four years ago. Doesnt sound like trump, though, is over preeparing. Should he be listening a bit more to paul ryans advice. First of all, over prepare. What does that mean . Hes preparing and everyone prepares in their own way and hes going to be ready, but he is right about the fact that Hillary Clintons been doing this forever. And shes going to be held to a pretty high standard. Shes got to hit it out of the park and the other thing, the last part of what he said is true, too. You prosecute your case. You hold your opponent accountable. Offer a positive vision for america. Thats what people are looking at. People arent watching this debate saying i kind of like that pro growth plan better than that theyll be looking at two people. This is a change electorate and theyre going to want to figure out whether the change candidate, whichever one they choose, which it cant be hillary, is ready to are tbe president of the United States. This debate is about demeanor, being president s, what people view in the best choice in the white house. Thats what matters tonight. One question the Clinton Campaign keeps asking is, which donald trump will show up tonight . The clinton spokeswoman jennifer palm jari said we are preparing for different trumps that might show up. May be aggressive or may be laid back, and thats hard to game out. Which donald trump is likely to show up tonight . I think its the reality is, that donald trump is going to take the approach that best suits the situation. If youve seen donald trump in the last five weeks, a measured, mature, disciplined candidate, delivering policy messages every single night. Almost every day of the week. In the weeds on everything from education to community and black and Hispanic Community engagement. Every topic you can imagine, hes been hitting these topics with great detail and thats why in the polls today hes gaining ground, hes passing Hillary Clinton in national polls. Already passed her in most battleground states, and the hillary Clinton Campaign, theyre flipping out, working with mark cuban, creating ridiculous High School Stories that weve had to respond to. They know that theyre in trouble, and so now what shes going to do is come out with, you know, loads and loads of policy detail, which isnt going to matter, because she had the opportunity to implement those details and failed miserably. Is trump still 100 committed to participating after this debate in the two additional president ial debates . Well, sure. Hes going to participate in the other two debates, and he said he would, and i expect that he will, and mike pence is going to participate in the Vice President ial debate. Reince priebus, chairman of the Republican National committee. Thanks for joining us. You bet, wolf. The view from the other side right now. In the primaries, democrats held nine debates, but Hillary Clinton has a longer history on the debate stage, from both the 2008 president ial campaign and her successful run for the u. S. Senate in new york state. Here with me is Clinton Campaign press secretary brian fallon. Thanks very much for coming in. Thanks for having me, wolf. Is it true shes still practicing, mock debating today . I dont know about another mock session today but certainly taking lastminute preparations. She takes these debates seriously. I have to point out something Reince Priebus said. You asked about Donald Trumps qualifications, hes stressed 14 series finales of the apprentice, theyre hoping to coast on style and tell vis showmanship. No doubt about it, during the primary debate that carried him, but on this stage with one of these two candidates standing behind those two lecterns will be the next president of the United States and i think the bar is higher for donald trump. Not just come out and put on a new show. He has to show command of the issue. Its not about who has the best growth policies, reince said. It should be. The American People will hold donald trump to a higher stand and hear his policies. Which donald trump are you bracing for . Which donald trump will show up, a more president ial type donald trump, speaking about policy issues, National Security . Or someone whos going to be much more aggressive in going after her . The perfect question, wolf. I think i agree with my boss jennifer. Earlier preparing for both Donald Trumps, because the possibilities were endless which personality might show up. Weve seen in the last few weeks his campaign handlers have been trying to get him to behave in a more president ial manner and given more speeches off a teleprompter. If i had to put my money down, i bet wed see a more subdued donald trump tonight, making a desperate, lastditch effort to seem president ial on the stage. I think they recognize the show manship of the primary debates, insulting opponents, lying ted, low energy jeb, little marco, i think they realize that doesnt play on this stage. So were expecting that, preparing for that, and i think that him just coming in and not having an outburst, not being his usual bombastic self will not be enough to qualify him for a passing grade. He needs to come prepared to discuss detailed policy and come leer and stop telling the lies that have marked his campaign. He was politifacts liar of the year. Donald trump makes it clear. You hit him hes going to punch you right back a lot harder. I assume Hillary Clinton will come out swinging, if you will, going after him . First, second and third objective, lay out her positive vision. We view this as an opportunity on the stage tonight. Its hard to be heard against the din of the back and forth normal campaign day to day. She wants to use tonight why shes running for president , fulfillment of her lifetime of service, and donald trump needs to come prepared to talk about that affirmative vision, too. Hopefully treat the American People, 90 million to 100 million or so expected tonight to a serious conversation about the two different paths these two candidates want to take this country on. Mark cuban, owner of the dallas mavericks, himself a Reality Television successful show. A Hillary Clinton supporter. He learned donald trump invited family from the benghazi terror attack obviously supporting donald trump. Your reaction to that . Hillary clinton has spoke ton this, the benghazi terror incident was a horrible, horrendous thing that happened, and Hillary Clinton since the day it happened has been committed to making the improvements in our Diplomatic Security to ensure that an incident like that never happens again. She met with the family soon after that and continues to express sympathy and extend condolences. I should correct this. A benghazi survivor who supporting donald trump here as well. The point stands. I think both in the debate hall tonight, both campaigns it is a tradition, invite many supporters and surrogates, people out there on the campaign trail for them. So its no surprise that donald trump is doing the same thing. I think that the attention of the viewers will be on the two candidates on the stage. And whats the major point shes going to go after donald trump on tonight . Whats going to be her main argument . Again i think theres going to be two different visions of the country that youre going to hear from tonight. Hillary clinton thinks were stronger together, that means on the economic side, building an economy that works for everybody, not just those at the top. Donald trump presents an alternative view thinking we can continue to build our economy by lavishing tax breaks on the wealthiest americans like himself. Give himself a tax cut just on the estate tax and comes to keeping us safe, Hillary Clinton has a real plan to work with allies to defeat isis, laid out a detailed proposal. Donald trump has a secret plan to dweebt isis. Thinks hes smarter than the generals and abandon our allies and nato. Different competing visions and up to the American People which path they want to choose. See if she or he comes out swinging, how lively or stays on a highlevel of security, National Security, we shall say . I would be willing to bet, giving advice to come out and surprise people and be counterintuitive coming out and being semicoherent and having an even temperament. Try to get under his skin jrn. Im not saying that. Reaction between when donald trump comes out and the tries to maintain composure should not be to be prisurprised hes won the debate on that. We should hold him to a higher stand. This is a job interview. Two competing for the same job you dont judge them on two different sets of qualifications. Hold them to the same bar. The decisions in the oval office are the same no matter who wins this i lexuelection. Not preparing would be a mistake. Brian fallon, press secretary for the hillary Clinton Campaign. Were live here inside the debate hall at Hofstra University. Just hours from now, Hillary Clinton and donald trump will finally faceoff in the first president ial debate. The race, a virtual dead heat. The stakes couldnt be any higher. What does each candidate need to do to win the night and win over voters . Well discuss that and a whole lot more when we come back. Redid you say 97 . 97 yes. You know, that reminds me of geicos 97 Customer Satisfaction rating. 97 . Helped by geicos fast and friendly claims service. Huh. Oh yeah, baby. Geicos as fast and friendly as it gets. Woo geico. Expect great savings and a whole lot more. I want my blood sugar i to stay in control. Ck. 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I want to get our Political Panel in here. David chalian, cnns political director. Mark preston is the executive eder of cnn politics, jackie kucinich, cnn political analyst, Washington Bureau chief for the daily beast. David what is she bringing to the table tonight, Hillary Clinton, her strength . I think her biggest strength is the mastery of policy. Doing this her entire public life, her career and i think know be the policy inside and out is her biggest strength. I dont think voters are looking for full white papers when watching a debate, but the fact that they a full comfort zone for her allows her to focus on other things. That means its a strength for her. Her strength from your perspective, mark. Number one, what david said. I think she does her homework and seen it in debate prep over the part weekend and all the way through. So going into tonight shes absolutely going to be prepared for her, though, its going to be can she then take what she has learned and put it out there in a way that the voters will embrace . What do you think her biggest strength is . Ia also agree with the polic. Explains it, point by point and comfortable with very kplegs co issues, particularly Foreign Policy and terrorism. Explaining her own record of secretary of state. Shes precise and voters can understand it. Listen to this. This is from one of the democratic primary debates. Hillary clinton expressing her knowledge of some of these issues. Listen to this. Given the threat that isis poses to the region and beyonds as we have sadly seen in our own country it is important to keep the iraqi army on path where they can actually take back territory to work with the sunni tribes in Anbar Province and elsewhere so that their fighters can be also dello theyre doie fighting. Were doing the support. A vote is not a plan to defeat isis. We have to look at the threats with face now and we have to be prepared to take them on and defeat them. One of the strengths you were suggesting, right . Exactly that. Shows knowledge of issues, cleaning up a political vulnerability for the iraq war, and just think that primary season debates is all they have. Studying game film. No doubt. Wolf, instructable only so far. In a primary season, the opponent shes going after, she wants his supporters eventually and the people in the audience like her people like bernie sanders, during the primary season. A different, entirely different scenario than going up against trump. Talk about Donald Trumps strength. What is his biggest strength . Does a good job conveying a populist message. Right . Doesnt get into specifics clearly but the way he delivers it in these bitesized morsels, which are being embraced right now by White Working Class voters who feel theyve been left behind, not just by democrats but washington as a whole, and that really helped fuel his success so far. And he does have a very compelling message, and it is in a way people can understand and he speaks in sound bites. Youre right. Also very confident. Sometimes to a fault, but it does play well. He understands television. He understands how to play to the cameras. And for that, this could be a very good venue for him. An exchange he had with jeb bush, and at one of the republican primary debates. Donald, you know, is great at, at the one liners. But hes a chaos candidate. And hed be a chaos president. Jeb doesnt really believe im unhinged. He said that very simply because