Five Democratic Presidential Candidates Take Debate Stage Tomorrow Night
DAN PFEIFFER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think her ultimate goal in this debate is to lay out not just what she would do as president but why she's the right person. She needs to connect her very extensive policy experience and agenda with the larger mission of the campaign. If she can do that, I think this will be a successful debate for her.</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN: Everyone watching basically knows Hillary Clinton but everyone watching does not necessarily know Senator Bernie Sanders. He's got a different mission tomorrow night.</s>ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think he's introducing himself to the nation. Hillary Clinton has to talk policy and has got to get the policy right. She's known as a policy person. But she also has a likability issue. The biggest problem she's got right now is trustworthiness. She needs to be able to connect with the audience, not only in the room but also through the TV set, which is a totally different challenge. Bernie Sanders needs to prove that he is more than just a 74-year-old Socialist from Vermont.</s>BLITZER: Should he attack her tomorrow night? Should he be sort of quiet about the differences that they have? What should be his strategy?</s>VAN JONES, CNN HOST: First of all, he's got to make a big switch. He's been doing 90-minute speeches in front of 20,000 fans. How do you go from 90-minute speeches to 90-second answers? That's tough for anybody. So he has got to make that switch, just realize I'm not in front of a bunch of adoring fans. I have got four people against me out there that I'm going to have to debate. We don't know if he can debate. Then he has to make a decision. Can he actually draw a contrast without looking like the designated Hillary hater who's going to hurt the front-runner? He's got a bunch of adjustments to make tomorrow night. We've got to see.</s>BLITZER: He's a debater, trust me. I've known Bernie Sanders. He's not a shy guy. He can debate. And I sense if the going gets tough, he'll get tough.</s>KEVIN MADDEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think it's -- it will be less about him being tough and going after Hillary. I don't think that's probably what's going to score him many points in a Democratic debate. I think he has to take this stump speech, this populist stump speech and introduce it to, as Ana said, to a whole new bunch of voters that hadn't heard about him before, that don't live in Iowa or New Hampshire. This is a real chance for him to shine on that stage and offer what -- and I think, to Van's point, too, this implied contrast that what you have is inauthentic, unreliable, progressive in Hillary Clinton. And I am an answer to a lot of your dreams and aspirations that you have for the party on some of the big issues like taking on Wall Street, like changing the national security posture of the Democratic Party, so things like that.</s>NAVARRO: I think that, unlike in the Republican Party, where we've had outsiders who have never debated on a stage like this before, all of these folks are seasoned veterans, seasoned politicians. Some of them are former senators. God knows all they do is debate. So I think we're going to see very seasoned debaters there.</s>BLITZER: She was secretary of state for four years, Hillary Clinton. You think that when it comes to national security, foreign policy, international affairs, she might have an advantage. But Bernie Sanders, like Barack Obama eight years ago, is going after her pretty bluntly, pointing out she voted to go to war against Iraq. He opposed that decision, which he now says was a mistake on her part.</s>PFEIFFER: I think Hillary Clinton is beyond just being secretary of state, she's a phenomenal debater. She was excellent in the 2 dozen debates we did in 2007, 2008.</s>BLITZER: That's when you were working for the president.</s>PFEIFFER: When we were working for President Obama. And what I think the challenge for her is going to be is to be able to not just give policy answers but latch those policies to a larger rationale of her candidacy. Foreign policy will be a challenging one because where she's broken with the president on more intervention in Syria is an unpopular position in the Democratic Party and probably in the country writ large. The only place where it would really work would be in the Republican primary. So that's a vulnerability for her.</s>JONES: But I think that Hillary Clinton needs just one or two moments where she's just human. If she just -- we know she's going to just kill everybody on the policy points. She's taken a more hawkish position. She can defend herself on that. You have to find a moment where you just tell a story, where the rationale point you're making is correct but it's got to be put in a human context. It can't be this lofty nonsense. It's got to be, listen, my mom went through hell to raise me. And I get it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it has to not look scripted. It has to be --</s>BLITZER: And they're going to go after her for supposedly flip- flopping in recent weeks and months on sensitive issues.</s>MADDEN: Yes. I think that's the core vulnerability that she has. And I think it goes to both Van and Dan's point, which is, on points she wins in these debates but doesn't have these big moments of strength. And I think when she's calculating as a politician, she takes the right positions that are right with her base. But does she show a moment of heart, a moment of strength? That's going to be what's really tough for her.</s>BLITZER: We'll see if she does it.</s>BLITZER: I know she's been practicing, rehearsing. Let's see what happens tomorrow night. Don't go too far away, guys. We have a lot more coming up. Two candidates get most of the headlines. But guess what? There are five people who will be on that stage tomorrow night. They're dreaming of winning the White House. Can the three lesser-known candidates break through the noise, become the threat to the top two? Much more right after this.