Candidates Looking Breakout Moment in Debate; Rules, How Stage is Set Plays into Debate Performance; How Candidates Prepare for the Debate
BLITZER: Getting ready for the round two of the Republican presidential debates tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. eastern, and the first debate followed by the main event at 8:00 p.m. eastern. And one of the big factors in how the debate plays out could be the rules and how the stage is set. So CNN's Tom Foreman takes a closer look at what to expect when the bell rings for the main event.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The same 10 candidates we saw last time around will be on stage with the addition of Carly Fiorina, who was in the earlier so-called happy hour debate, who's now jumped up to the bigger group. What are they going to have to work with in this contest? They can't bring any phones with them, no tablets, no notes, no props. Each candidate will have a pad of paper and a pen and a glass of water. And what will they be facing? Well, our panel will be comprised of our moderator, Jake Tapper, also CNN's Dana Bash, and Hugh Hewitt from radio. They will be posing questions, along with some confess that will be taken from social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and so forth. The subject matters are going to be foreign policy, domestic policy and politics. Big, broad topics. With so many people on stage, they will have narrow windows in which to answer. One minute per answer, 30 seconds if it's a rebuttal to something else that was said about you. And we will use timing lights to show the candidates if they are running out of time. Lest you think the people in the earlier debate are at a huge disadvantage, yes, they may very well have a smaller audience, but they'll have a whole lot more time to express their ideas. And under the rules, if one of them says something that's particularly sharp or interesting, that video clip can be played in the larger debate, and those candidates will have to answer to it.</s>BLITZER: And, Tom Foreman, excellent explanation. The rules now set, the stage is set, and the candidates are making their final preparations for the debate. Let's talk about how the candidates are getting ready to talk about what is about to take place. Joining us from Washington is Greg Craig, a former White House counsel under Obama, and he's also, by the way, played John McCain in Obama's debate preparation. He played George W. Bush for John Kerry. With us here in Simi Valley, CNN political commentator, Kevin Madden, who was a senior communications strategist for the Mitt Romney campaign. All right, Greg, so tell us, now, what do you see going into the debate tomorrow night?</s>GREG CRAIG, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Well, Wolf, as you know, getting ready for a presidential debate where it's two candidates versus each other, as opposed to a primary debate, where there are many, many candidates and very, very propositions. I think that when Senator Obama, when he was running in 2007, he found that getting ready for the multiple candidates debates was one of the most frustrating and difficult things in the experience, and participating was more frustrating. And you have three opportunities, and maybe a grand total of four minutes. You have no idea how it is going to go and what the flow will be. And so your preparation is largely coming into the segues of what you want to say, and selecting the three or four sentences in hoping that you will score.</s>BLITZER: And a key issue -- and let me bring you in, Kevin -- Kevin, is how hard do you go against the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump?</s>KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & FORMER DEBATE MANAGER FOR MITT ROMNEY: Well, not in a way that invites Donald Trump to do what he does best which is to punch and counter punch. Greg is right, that in the prep sessions, the candidates are boning up on the issues in the way they can crystallize the argument to the voters, and this is a rare chance to talk to tens of millions of voters to send the message of the candidacy. And many of them are thinking from the 40,000-foot level, what message do I want to send, strength, leadership, vision, and that is a lot of what they are trying to do. And it is really hard to try to pack it into the four minutes that you will get to do that.</s>BLITZER: And they will get a little bit more than four minute --</s>BLITZER: -- because it is a long, long debate, the main debate and the second-tier debate. And, Greg, basically, your advice for the candidates, and specifically, the ones that are trying to break through right now, and for is several of the Republican candidates the last chance to make a positive impression on the Republican voters outs-- voters out there, and do they hit Donald Trump the or not?</s>CRAIG: They want something news worthy, and that gets attention. You can't ignore Donald Trump, and the candidate that calls Donald Trump a loser in November is going to get attention. And looking at 2007 as an example, it is not Senator the Obama's debate participation or the debate performances that made him stick out, but it was the campaign's events in Iowa and speeches around the country that made him a pull- away candidate rather than the debate performance.</s>BLITZER: You know, the rules are pretty strict in these kinds of debates, Kevin, as you well know, and you helped to prepare Mitt Romney for these kinds of debates four years ago. And 60-second answer, and 30-second rebuttals, but what is to stop one of the candidates from interrupting, and raising a question, and screaming, and getting into the fight, if you will, and that is presumably going to happen.</s>MADDEN: Well, you want to avoid some bad or awkward moments where you are interrupt org doing so in a way where, you know, you start to reinforce the attributes of being thin-skinned or something like that to be avoided. And another thing that the candidates have to be careful of is that the debates are performances, and the theatrics and the optics matter, and especially in a debate hall this small. As they do the walk-throughs, they will be looking at that and making note of it and the final preparations, of how to best take advantage of that and avoid the mistakes to turn in a bad debate moment.</s>BLITZER: If, Greg Craig, Donald Trump called you up -- and I know he won't -- but if he said, one piece of advice going into the debate tomorrow night, what would you say?</s>CRAIG: I would say do what you are doing, and the people are expecting that, and you are batting 1,000 so far in the public appearance. I would say, keep it up, and do the same thing. And the difficult thing is to take him on from the outside, these other candidates, and getting some traction with their positions. The point I would make --</s>BLITZER: And you would tell Donald Trump just be yourself, you are right.</s>CRAIG: And the point I would make, with the other candidates, it is very hard for them to win it. What they can do, if they don't perform correctly or adequately, they could lose it.</s>BLITZER: Thank you, Greg Craig. Kevin Madden, thank you. Much more coverage of the CNN Republican debate, that's coming up. But there's other news we're following right now. Russia is building up its military presence in Syria. The Kremlin insists it's providing support in the fight against ISIS. Why is the U.S. skeptical? Stay with us.