Actually and we are looking at the top 10 debaters and the seven who didnt make the top 10. Al, the primetime debate, what are you focused on . It in someets put perspective. This is not the super bowl, this is not even the playoffs. James, he isking johnny manziel. So lets just see what happens. John whoa is inam not sure that it anyones interest john you think donald trump going to be on his best behavior . Al i think that any of those nine others could attack him. John we have some very interesting questions, but i am very interested in what jeb push is going to do tonight. He is not the front runner. He has had a bad week or so. Do you think any candidate could reclaim the mantle of leadership . Do you think they could reclaim to be on par with donald trump and leave the other eight behind . Al he has not really just had a bad week, he has had a bad couple of months. He has to show who he is tonight, he has to show some personality again, and i think the guy is going to be attacking tonight. If there is anyone attacking, it is going to be ted cruz. John youve got to keep all of those pearls of wisdom for yourself later on. All right, the primetime selection, as i said before, sometimes people think it is more important to be on the less crowded stage going in the debate that is happening right now. Do you think it is better to be the undercard rather than the main event . Have on is what people the keyboard of what the main interest was, and fill in the blank, Carly Fiorina or bobby jindal, i dont think it really matters on whole lot, but first of all, john, there should not be an 18 person debate. John i know you feel that way strongly, but i would like to say that it is the case that for all of these candidates who are well in the polls, what they want more than anything is exposure. So the only thing bigger than a bigger audience is a bigger debate. I think you could go to any strategist and ask them right now, would you switch places with someone in that primetime debate . They would all switch places if they could. Unlike you, iut cant tell the difference between 3. 4 or 3. 3. Doingi am not capable of that, but uni are on the same plane. They should have two debates and draw straws. Today, Democratic National committee announced six debates for their partys nomination contest. Candidates like Bernie Sanders and Martin Omalley say it is not enough. That thens suggest Democratic Party machinery is protecting its frontrunner, Hillary Clinton. How . They might have a point. I am notthey do, but sure we are going to see them pull up on the limit on these debates. Bernie and martin and the others will say yes, and will hillary say no . I am not worried there will be too few debates. It is amazing to me that so far on a know we are just starting tonight but it is amazing to me so far that nothing has happened. The party has done a pretty good job, and i do think it is crazy, that the democrats, even though they have a much smaller field, do not have a debate with her. I think it is a racket that they are protecting Hillary Clinton. Cspan was a little bit of a break away the other day. There will be more than that. News, it is the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights act. President obama said that there were two things of that kept people from historically voting, nd on the al sharpton show, there was a closely watched photo id law in texas, so al, i ask you, how big a political issue is the Voting Rights act going to be . Al itll be a huge issue, it will energize some voters, i suppose, but it is a huge disgrace. Whether it is young blacks or latinos who vote democratic or whether it is the elderly or some veterans, we ought to try to do everything we can to increase the franchise. Not limit it. A problem in america. Not limit it. Voting fraud is not a problem in america. Ahn if Hillary Clinton has problem with the democratic base, it is going to be enthusiasm. She has to get people out for the vote. She has to get enough of a share of the hispanic vote, she has to get enough of a share of the black vote. She has to get those raw numbers. She has to get people thinking about the Voting Rights act and people who are trying to take away that franchise from that particular democratic ace, i believe. Al i could not have said it bettwer myself. John [laughter] have all kinds of nicknames, after these words from our sponsors. John joining us now, for the pleasure of millions, alex wegner and republican oh gists outcast jan alex. We have two alexes. G. i am interested in between the dynamic between marco rubio and jeb , i am interested in the phenomenon of 10 carson. Carson. Least,hink last, but not i am interested in Carly Fiorina. Im interested in what she will say about planned parenthood and reproductive rights. Here,and the other alex what do you say . Alex. G you are playing to the crowd. Have done a lot of campaigns and a lot of debates. What are you telling a candidate, any candidate on the issue, about what to do with donald trump . G. anything with the hair. Attack the hair. Trump is nitroglycerin. He does not mean to go pick a fight with donald trump, he is better at this than you are, he of this, at the end of the day, is a tv show. So leave him alone. The guys on top have nowhere to go but down. Bottom, likehe Chris Christie, they can go after trump. They are one of the few. W. when you walk by a pit bull, it is 5050 that it is going to bark. Alex c. it is not that trump is not going to attack, it is his exquisite excuse, but it is the moderators. When that happens, the debates are out. It is strength. It is not about the singers, it is a moments, it about strength. John but that is the question, alex, your moment of strength is one of your themes. Strengthe moments of right now is to stand up to donald trump, so how do you stand up to this moment of strength . How do you get out of the way . How do they do that . Alex c. when the debate gets look at these guys and you say, our country is going down the toilet, and one of these guys is against the other. Lets remember that it is barack obama we are running against. Dont poke donald trump in the eye. You dont need to do that. You wont live long. Al. go get em, al i think you can divide this and the four caret grace four topgories, trump is in the category, but three of them have had a bad year. Bad too, sol is they need to come back and say, here is what i want. There are three on the right, carson, ted cruz, and jeb bush. So all of them have to smile and say that we want to go, and they have to make that case. Alex w. what happened to rand paul . Donald trump happen to him and stole all of his oxygen. Air left in theo room at all. Likeont defeat candidates that, you let them exhaust themselves. It take all of their heat that they generate and you use it to fuel your campaign. Washington is killing us and we are all going to burn it down. Lets talk specifically about how we are going to do it. Take the ball and run with it. Turn his anger into your reaction. Just really quickly, just name a game, but whod you think is really going to pop up and impress someone . 12 white guys and one a sharp businesswoman who is going to kick them in the 12 white guys and one sharp businesswoman who is going to kick them in the coconuts . Carly fiorina. Stick around, thank you for spending time with us, and we will be back with a lot more debate night fun right after this. Joining us now are two of the new york timess finest and handsomest writers. They are wearing uniform blue suits. Mark from the new york and then we have the majordomo of all political coverage. You guys are both really smart. Is not a majordomo but ashley a minor actually a minordomo. I think they are going to use jeb as a punching bag. Nobody is going to go after trump in a frontal way. They dont want to incur the wrath. Think primetime debate, i it is hard to see that happening because you dont want to get that back and fourth. I think theyre going to go after jeb in a way that will help them can feel help them appeal to a more conservative voters. Are basically going to give trump a pass and beat the hell out of jeb bush. If you are represent a by him, he is the opposite of most candidates. In iowa, people are saying, i am not going to be like jeb bush. Alex what mystifies me is that how badly jeb has been about answering questions about his family. The man cannot answer the traditional 1, 2, 3 of political questions. In some ways, i think the really heavy lifting is getting out of the bed, and i think there will be an unconscious voting in their minds. There, unless you completely blow up, is going to be a positive thing for most of the candidate. And usually the spin room is the most important place in the world. This is where i think candidates will show up because i dont think theyll get the attraction that they will want to get. John you have written about trump, as we all have, and he is the focus of our session. Mark he is a dear friend of mine. John no respect. Mark i know him very well. John if you were a Campaign Manager and you were talking to him tonight, mr. Trump, with what would you say . Conventional wisdom is counterintuitive, and i would say, mr. Trump, you have got to behave yourself. Youre going to get attention, but lets actually prove that you could be a solid, sober custodian of this. For saying that, i dont know if he can control himself for two hours. John i saw jonathan twitch when you said that. Jonathan what is the goal . I dont think he is going to do that unless you can tell me the goal. Does he have a longrange play for whatever alex dont you think john do you think he wants to be president . This liket discovering somebody is really at clubwindsurfing med and they started because it was fun and now i am at center stage and mainstage of the Republican Party . John and [indiscernible] there are 10 candidates on stage and it is going to move so fast and the moderators are going to want to move it along. It is good to be difficult for these candidates to pay attention. John alex talked about it before about whether scott walker can look president ial. With the Walker Campaign that that is what their main goal tonight is, is to look president ial . Jonathan i think it is undergirded by the fact that he talking about Foreign Policy and National Security issues. I think scott walker is somebody who has to live up to his polling. He looks good on paper but he he hasreally prove that the capability of being the commander in chief and proving that his poll numbers are in fact an accurate tell of his strength. Again, in some ways, i think he has gotten further out and faster than he thought he could ever be. John you guys are fantastic. Jonathan who is better . Alex would you accept drinks at the bar . Martin, mark, thank you. We will be right back and back. Alex wow. John so many. Welcome to the dance. Any remotely sentiment being as any remotely senti sentient being on planet earth knows, jon stewart is leaving the daily show tonight. Stewart leaves less as a funnyman and more as a political institution. Political figures and in doing so, became a political figure. News. Mesis is fox fox news upon success also brought out the best and the worst in stewart. Mock Newt Gingrich or donald rumsfeld, and it fell of political satire with a little more light. Jon how dare you sir . How dare you . How dare you ask about something ry as my three overlapping marriages. But he found his truest power as a broadcaster when fox news began to take off during the beginning of the iraq war. Suddenly, stewart had a target. I recommended that you only watch fox three tiny pinhole drilled into a piece of cardboard. If you watch fox, it will indelibly drill into your soul. [laughter] soon, he was mocking fox news more than he was mocking those in actual power. And fox news a loved punching him back. Sewart stuart jon cant admit that he is a liberal mouthpiece. For a while, there was a very delightful backandforth between these media powers. It was hilarious. The point is you are right. It is a cause for celebration. But it may have elevated him to much. He began to use his power as the face of liberalism. Most famously, he had a rally to restore sanity in october 2010. Get throughgoing to the darkness and back through the light. We have to work together, and the truth is, there will always be darkness. Sometimes, the light at the end of the tunnel isnt the promised land. Sometimes, it is just new jersey. [laughter] ernest, tear filled speech was about as far from politics as one could get. Was a backandforth from the political world is that a virus bite from it. In his later years, he got a little nasty. You could see it start to wear on him. Entityu are fighting an as powerful as fox news, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell who is winning. Past 12 or 13 years, fox news and i have been having a fun, lighthearted, and i would say, an extremely productive conversation about which one of us is the bigger [blank]. Ity, not surprisingly, think is me, where as i tend to lean to the idea that perhaps it is them. The humor has been less ly ideological. There is a constant fighting with fox news but now he is going out the way that he came in, just concentrating on the funny and a political way instead of being political in a funny way. Still, in the end, fox news changed jon stewart more than jon sewart changed fox news. John all right, we will be back with two bigtime strategists and two bigtime candidates will be on the bigtime stage shortly. John it is a bonus half hour. Live in cleveland for the republican debate. Joining us is john weaver. And Chris Christie advisor mike duhain. Both of your candidates were not at the top of the top 10, but both happy to a made on the main stage tonight. What is the biggest goal for tonight . We beat expectations to get here. Every time john kasich has the time to tell his story about what he did in congress, helping to balance the federal budget, it is a winwin for us. For the candidate with the. D. Iame i expect to see the governor relaxed and telling his story of what he has done for this country. Christie what is a win for him . He has no problem being himself. It is very early in the campaign. It is an opportunity for istie to talk about himself. He has laid out specific plans. John take it away. Al what do you expect of donald trump today . Mike i have no idea. There are 10 people on the stage. For governor christie, it is about him and his vision. Trump. Ave not focused on why worry about it . At the end of the day, this is a chance for john kasich to tell his story. John it is one thing for you guys to say we are not totally focused on donald trump, but he might attack you, right . You do debate prep and one possibility is donald trump he attacks a lot of people. You are seeing both eager of your candidates are unprepared . I dont anticipate that. We are more prepared to tell are part of the story on moving the country forward. Ke thank you for bringing us on your show to call us disingenuous. All theut candidates have a chance to talk about themselves. We know it is a fascination of the media. As we said, it is a long way away. John how do you feel about the dynamic of being up there with 10 people on the stage . Very limited time to tell your story. How do you break through the format problem and get across, get known . We take this one event at a time. And why you guys may think this is a very important event, we see it as an important night, but we are focused on New Hampshire and iowa. We will do a good job tonight and get back to work tomorrow. every candidate will have a chance this be tonight. They will all have 7, 9 minutes to tell their stories. We will see what happens. We cannot predict what other candidates are going to do. Al if you and john were to get together in a disingenuous cus, what would you tell him to do . Mike i think he is great. Al what would you tell mike . Pretty much the same. I know my guy in his guy will be themselves. Al can you contrast their records . Not yet. Mike we will wait until they are on stage. Were noth of you guys at the top of the top 10 but you are very focused on New Hampshire. And then focused on iowa. Without saying anything bad about Chris Christie, why is john kasich the best New Hampshire candidate . I had experience, but i can tell you after having done 10 or 12 townhall meetings, his Conversion Rate because of his authenticity and his message on bringing the country forward, balancing the federal budget, resonates in New Hampshire. We have a lot of work to do. We just got started in New Hampshire. They have a great organization, but we are growing and we are confident we will do well. John wise Chris Christie the best candidate for New Hampshire . Mike there are things that distinguish him. His record as the u. S. It turned attorney and being a chief executive and a governor of a blue state. It is different than other governors. Having to work with and to opposition with the democratic legislation is Good Practice for washington. Sununu inave johnson in new your camp. Would he speak about his father . We are happy to have him. We cannot win the white house if we dont carry ohio as a party. If you look at what john kasich counties,86 of 88 that is selling with activists not just the New Hampshire but around the country. Al how much time did you spend in iowa . Mike a fair amount of time in iowa. We spent more time in New Hampshire, but we will spend a good amount of time and i owa. John when i saw Chris Christie up there, he was going to iowa and seeing u2. U2, iowach as he loves must be important. I have a question about trump, just a general question. Two months ago, many people in thoughts this is this was a timelimited phenomenon. Youhis point, thdo anticipate donald trump will be a factor when votes are cast in february . Unpredictable,y as you know. Peopleicipating a lot of being in the race a lot longer because o