Matthew Slams Florida: Forecasters Warn Of "Life-Threatening" Storm; Clinton, Trump Prepare for Critical Debate.
BLITZER: Live pictures coming in from Tybee Island in Georgia right now, updating the "BREAKING NEWS" this hour. A Hurricane Matthew slamming the eastern coast of Florida. Take a look at some of these live pictures. We got these live pictures from Tybee Island in Georgia right now. President Obama warns that Hurricane Matthew is still a very, very dangerous storm. The Florida's Governor says the worst may be yet to come for his state. Georgia and South Carolina, they are very much in the storm's path right now. Here are some other late-breaking developments involving Hurricane Matthew. It's located about 90 miles right now southeast of Jacksonville, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour. Forecasters say the storm surge along the Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina Coast, could reach nine to eleven feet, that's a major concern in low-lying areas like Jacksonville as well as the historic cities of Savannah and Charleston. Utility crews in Florida are dealing with massive power outages, more than 800,000 customers right now without electricity that number could go up. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Department of Homeland Security, have just briefed Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on the hurricane's impact and the federal government's response. The response neither candidate is out there on the campaign trail today. We're told they're both preparing for the Presidential Debate, just two days away, Sunday night. Many saw Trump's last-minute town hall last night as a practice of sorts for Sunday, but Trump insists it was not, and the pre-screened questions seemed to prove that. Listen.</s>HOWIE CARR, TOWN HALL HOST AND TRUMP SUPPORTER: After the first debate, the media and even some within the party suggested that you should have gone after Hillary more. Did you hold back and do you plan on criticizing her more this weekend? What would you say to convince Hispanics who are deceived by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the biased media to vote for you? When you become President and you -- can you assure the American people that you are going to clean house from the top at the FBI, Justice Department, State Department, and the V.A.? And then what order would you start?</s>BLITZER: I want to bring in Mark Preston, the Executive Editor for CNN Politics, he's already in St. Louis where Sunday night's debate will take place. So Mark, listening to those questions that were posed to Donald Trump last night, do you think that town hall really helped him prepare for Sunday's debate because the questions from people at that debate are going to be obviously very different.</s>MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Yeah, no doubt, Wolf. I mean, look, the only question he didn't get last night is, "Why, Donald Trump, are you such a great person? And we're looking forward you to becoming the next president." Look, we were told going into this town hall that his campaign setup, that it was going to be a practice of sorts to get him used to being able to interact with the audience. I don't think we necessarily saw that last night. He did interact a little bit, made some jokes, but we didn't see that personal connection that you really need to do in these town hall settings. There is so much on the line, Wolf, for Donald Trump on Sunday night in this debate that's going to be moderated by Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz. He did so poorly in the previous debate, he needs to make up ground. I don't think that last night was a really the testing ground that he needs heading into Sunday, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Based on what we're hearing, Mark, is he doing the practices, you know, sort of having those mock rehearsals, if you will, with stand-ins that Hillary Clinton, for example, has been doing?</s>PRESTON: So what I've been told as well as Sara Murray, who's traveling with the Trump campaign, is that he is taking questions from Reince Priebus, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Chris Christie, who ran against him for the republican nomination and really tried to base his campaign around town halls is doing the follow-ups, trying to ask him hard follow-ups, but certainly not the traditional sense where you have the candidate in a mock situation up against somebody playing Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump doesn't like to do that. In fact, today he met with his national security round table and talked to them. Tomorrow, we're going to see him in Wisconsin at an event that has been really created by Reince Priebus. He'll be with speaker Paul Ryan in Wisconsin, one day before the debate. Wolf?</s>BLITZER: Reince Priebus is from Wisconsin, so is Paul Ryan. All right. I'll see you in St. Louis. Thanks so much for that, Mark Preston. That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. Eastern in THE SITUATION ROOM. Our coverage of Hurricane Matthew continues with Victor Blackwell, he's on the ground. That starts right after a quick break.