[Donald Trump , Presidential Candidate:] I hear everybody is coming after me. I've been doing this for 30 years. I feel really good about the debate.
[Carly Fiorina , Presidential Candidate:] And I don't really worry much about what Donald Trump says.
[Jeb Bush , Presidential Candidate:] I think he believes that he can insult his way to the presidency.
[Chris Christie , Presidential Candidate:] I've watched this Jeb Bush, you know, Donald Trump food fight and nobody cares.
[Dr. Ben Carson , Presidential Candidate:] And I don't think that my strategy is going to change at all. It's going to be to tell the truth.
[Sen. Rand Paul , Presidential Candidate:] Running for office is combat. I'm going to mix it up because I like to rumble.
[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn Anchor:] Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It 10:00 a.m. here at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, 1:00 p.m. in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 p.m. in Jerusalem. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. Up first, round two, and the gloves are off. The second Republican primary debate hosted by CNN only hours away from now, and the candidates, they're arriving throughout this hour for a walk-through of the debate stage. Eleven candidates meet in the main event, that starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. Our Correspondent Athena Jones is outside the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley, California. Athena, Lindsey Graham, the Republican presidential candidate, the senator from South Carolina, he's there. He's getting a chance to feel the stage, if you will. Set the scene for us.
[Athena Jones, Cnn Correspondent:] Hi, Wolf. That's right. We just saw Senator Graham pull up right here. This is where all the candidates are pulling up. They'll be walking past us. We're trying to ask them, you know, how are feeling? Are you ready? I asked that of Senator Graham. I said, what did you do this morning to prepare? And he just said, I got up. I took a shower. So, that's what he said and went on by. There he is. You can see that picture of him up on the main debate stage getting the lay of the land. Each of these candidates has a chance to come in, stand by their podium, find out where the moderators are going to be sitting, the people who are going to be asking the questions. And just get a sense of what to expect tonight at the main event. Well, he is in the first event, but it is a first big event for both tiers of candidates Wolf.
[Blitzer:] It's a huge event. Both of these debates are major opportunities for all of these candidates who are still in this race for the Republican presidential nomination. Athena, and just remind our viewers, they can't bring any notes with them. They can have no cell phones. They can go up there, there's a piece of paper, a notebook. They can write something when they get up there. But there is no props, if you will, to help them, right?
[Jones:] No props at all. That's part of what makes this is so exciting and so unpredictable. The big question becomes not just will any of these individual candidates have a memorable moment on the positive side, but, of course, in debates past, you've had candidates who have clearly lost their train of thought, led to long pauses. There's, of course, that oops moment from now former candidate, Rick Perry, from the last cycle. So, no, the candidates have to show up. They have to be ready. They're going to have, as you mentioned, some notes note paper that they can take the notes on. And, of course, water, if they need it. But they can't bring anything with them to that stage tonight Wolf.
[Blitzer:] All of the candidates will have a few minutes to walk around the stage, get a feel for what's going on. What do they have, like 15 minutes each, is that right?
[Jones:] It's something like that. They're staggered so that you don't have the candidates facing off ahead of the face-offs. So, they're staggered arrivals. Each candidate has a several minutes' long window to come on up here, head up to the stage, check out where they're going to be standing and get an early view of what it's going to look like tonight. But the idea is that they're not meant to overlap ahead of time. They'll have to wait until the actual hour of their debate before they before they're all out there together Wolf.
[Blitzer:] All right. Athena, thanks very much. Our Chief Washington Correspondent, the anchor of "THE LEAD," Jake Tapper, he will moderate the debates tonight. Joining him on the stage for questions, the conservative radio talk show host, Hugh Hewitt, and our Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash. Dana, what are your expectations? I know you and Hugh and Jake, you guys have been preparing, preparing and preparing.
[Dana Bash, Cnn Chief Political Correspondent:] That the debaters are going to debate. And that and that at the end of the time here, the Republican voters are going to really have a much better sense of where the candidates stand and who they are and what they stand for.
[Blitzer:] Yes, this is a debate, Hugh.
[Hugh Hewitt, Host, "the Hugh Hewitt Show":] Oh.
[Blitzer:] This is not a conversation. This is not an interview. This is a debate. That means, let these candidates show where they disagree on certain sensitive national security domestic issues.
[Hewitt:] Exactly right. They touched gloves in the first debate. And then, mostly, they introduced themselves as though it's the first episode of a television series. Tonight, they're going to be going after each other, because it is an opportunity to put in the Republican primary voters' mind some distinction between themselves and the other 11.
[Blitzer:] There's been a history, over the years, a lot of debates, where some of these candidates, they go after the questioners, as you well know. They're not happy with the question. They're they think the question is unfair. I assume all of you guys have are bracing yourself, potentially, for that.
[Bash:] Hugh, you don't know what that's like.
[Hewitt:] I don't know what that's like at all. You know, President Reagan, we're at his library. It's a great honor to be here. I don't think that will happen so much because of the set that CNN has constructed with Air Force One behind it. It really does add a sense of gravitas to this. And I think they'll be lowering themselves if they go after the moderator, or at Dana and Jake or Dana and I. I think they need to talk to each other if they want to impress the voters out there.
[Bash:] Yes, and it's not about us. It's about them. And as much as we can make that clear by the end, I think that we will have done our jobs.
[Hewitt:] Yes.
[Blitzer:] But some of these candidates, as you know, Hugh, they don't like what they call the mainstream media, whatever that means. And sometimes they feel that they can score political points among some of the more conservative supporters out there if they do that.
[Hewitt:] Well, they get pushback. I mean, I've interviewed them 40 times since the first debate, all of them, with the exception of Senator Paul hasn't been on since the first debate. But John Kasich is my home state governor. And he likes to punch back at me all the time and so I'm used to this. And it's not just the main stream media, it's so called, but they punch back at all media. Newt Gingrich showed there was value in that in the last cycle. So, I expect, maybe down the road but not tonight. Tonight, they have to distinguish themselves from each other, and I suspect that will be what will be happening.
[Blitzer:] It's a much more intimate auditorium,
[Bash:] Yes, that's right.
[Blitzer:] if you will. Five hundred people in the audience tonight, as opposed to thousands in Cleveland at that first debate, and you have Air First One right behind the podium over there, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. So, that does set a tone.
[Bash:] Absolutely. I was at the first debate in Cleveland and it was fascinating. But it was a very large venue, as you were we were talking about yesterday, at the arena where LeBron James plays. And it definitely felt that way. I mean, they tried to make it more intimate but there's only so much you can do when you have such a big but this is a stage that was literally built from nothing. You know, I think it's, like, 45 feet in the air. It's really to be special to be up right next to the plane that President Reagan flew on and others before him. And so, I think you're absolutely right about just the feel and the vibe in there. It's quite different than it was in Cleveland [Inaudible.]
[Hewitt:] We don't want one kind of vibe. We are in earthquake territory. I live out here. And I was looking at that platform, and I was thinking, man, if we're above 6.0 tonight, we're going to have quite an interesting scene up there. But it's pretty well constructed.
[Bash:] We put it together and it was definitely something that I didn't think of but it's the first thing you said.
[Hewitt:] Yes, first think I said because I'm from California.
[Blitzer:] So, the first debate is a much smaller debate. Four presidential candidates. That starts at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, George Pataki, Rick Santorum, Governor Bobby Jindal, Louisiana Senator Lindsey Graham. These guys have a major challenge. Now, it's going to be a good opportunity for them. They'll have more air time, if you will, because there are only four as opposed to 11 candidates on the stage. But they have to do something to break out of that second tier.
[Hewitt:] You know, I asked Senator Graham last week, why was he so sad during the first debate? Because that's what Twitter said. And he said, there wasn't anyone in the auditorium. They'll be people there tonight. He's very funny, you know. He's a very funny guy. So, I think that the crowd will give them a lot more energy and someone gets a ticket off of that stage but not more than one. Maybe nobody does. But someone gets a ticket to the main stage out of that preliminary conversation. So, I expect that they will be looking for air time.
[Bash:] Right. And the last time, for many of them, for all of them, particularly on the first stage with exception of Rick Perry who won't be here now, they hadn't done a presidential debate before. They had all been in public office, been in public service. They had done it on the state level but not at this level. And so, they didn't really know what to expect. And now, that first one is over, and they know what to expect. So, it I can't imagine that they haven't modified how they're going to approach it based on that.
[Blitzer:] Three of those four candidates in the first debate, Hugh, as you know, Pataki, Jindal, and Lindsey Graham, not Rick Santorum so much, but those three, they've really gone after Donald Trump in the recent weeks. They've slammed him. George Pataki, the former governor of New York says, he's not even he's not ready to be president. He couldn't vote for him if he were the Republican presidential nominee. Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana governor, refused to tell me he would vote for him if he were the Republican nominee. They're really going to after Trump, but Trump's not going to be on the stage with them during that first debate.
[Hewitt:] You know, I assume Donald Trump will be watching in his green room as they do that and it will get his juices flowing. And I was surprised by Governor Pataki's tweet that he would not vote for Donald Trump. That's kind of a shock to me, as a conservative, that he would say that. And I'm sure that will come up. And I'm sure that Donald Trump will be watching but so will the other 10 candidates because what really happens in the undercard is that you've set up a lot of the issues that will happen in the in the second debate. And it will not without significance what any of them say, and I assume that all the candidates will be listening.
[Bash:] And, actually, let me just correct because when you said Senator Santorum, I should make clear that, of course, Senator Santorum did debate on the big stage and he won Iowa last time around. And on senator Santorum, he is somebody who is not all that thrilled with all the attention that Donald Trump is getting. And I know that, just from talking to him since, that he's eager to talk about the issues that divide the Republicans.
[Blitzer:] I'm sure they will all be forceful and assertive in making their points. And some of that, the sound bites, if you will, from the first debate, they could be used to play during the second
[Bash:] Sure.
[Blitzer:] debate, right?
[Bash:] Sure. Well, at least refer to, if nothing else.
[Blitzer:] At least refer to. All right, guys, thanks very much. Good luck tonight to both of you.
[Bash:] Thanks, Wolf.
[Hewitt:] Thanks, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Much more coverage coming up as we count down to tonight's debate, including a look at Donald Trump's effect on the Republican Party. Is he alienating voters or is he drawing in people who normally would not get involved? We'll talk about that. And later, Senator Rand Paul, he's promising he'll go after Donald Trump tonight in a big way. Senator Rand Paul, he will join me live here at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California during this hour.