it brings up wonder about the trump/pence relationship, his vice presidential candidate. snl took aim at that relationship. watch this, hallie. the only person i need is my running mate, mike pence. i love mike pence. i respect pence. i ll always have pence. actually, today he said he can t condone your remarks and then he canceled his campaign events. mike pence is a loser. i hate his guts. i call him puny pence. what is happening with the ticket right now, hallie? yeah, i think there is some question marks about that. when you saw pence come out yesterday, and deliver that statement that he did not could not defend those remarks, did not condone them and would be watching at the debate, i think that is significant. it is also significant there is a report out and i believe the wall street journal that pence assured donors at a fund-raiser overnight he was standing by trump, at least for now, but i
prosperity and security going forward. well, steve, i think a lot of republican leaders are not listening to you, but i give you credit for swinging with all you have in a very, very tough point this morning. steve cortes, thanks a lot. thanks for having me. more now on the fallout from the tape, especially among republicans. trump, of course, is vowing to weather the storm, refusing to back down. saying there is zero chance he ll drop out. it s a stance that might anger many republican leaders, but this morning, a sign that the base is sticking with trump in a new poll, just 12% of republicans say trump should end his campaign. 74% say party officials should continue backing trump. major wrinkle in that debate that s happening inside the
territory. there has never been such a wide range of plausible strategies from a candidate that will confront donald trump this evening. now, this is a town hall style debate. right. how will, for example, donald trump going after bill clinton s past play in that type of debate? well, it is going to be harder to do it than in the standard stand-up podium style debate. it is a more intimate setting. the candidates begin seated. they have the option to get out of those seats. they can approach questioners, remember the questions here aren t some of the questioners will be the audience. all of the questions. there might be a moderator follow-up to get clarity on a response or to ask the candidate actually answer the question, but these will be citizen questioners and undecided voters at least in theory. the moderators will pick which people get to ask the questions so you get a spread on issues. it is not going to be easy for donald trump or hillary clinton for that matter t
forum is different. what are the challenges for candidates and will be the challenges tonight with this type of debate? well, first, trying to make a clear connection with the people asking the questions. again, these people are voters, proxies for everybody else in the audience, in ways that journalists can t be. number two, you have stage management issues. if you re standing behind the podium, you re behind the podium, you can gesture, decide which camera to look at. you can get up and create some proximity with the people asking questions by walking up to them, by figuring out where you are with regard to the cameras. donald trump is clearly experienced with that, but not in this forum. so served john mccain poorly in 2008 when he also experienced town hall forum person got up and started wandering around the stage and got in between the camera and his opponent, barack obama, in that election. so these are things you need to practice. hillary clinton has practiced it by all indic
celebration celebrate let s go to nbc s hallie jackson live at the debate site in st. louis. hallie, what are you hearing about trump s state of mind going into this debate? well, i had one source close to the campaign say to me over the last 18 hours or so that, quote, mood not great within the trump campaign. another said that it is essentially a state of paralysis or it has been as a trump campaign figures out what their best shot is to try to salvage some of this later on tonight. i think what you re seeing from donald trump are beyond hints about his plans to go after bill clinton s past indiscretions. he all but assured the public he would do so in that video statement that came out very early on saturday morning and then had those retweets last