Is that going to happen? i don t know. reporter: anyone stands out to you at this point? i am learning about all of them. i have been really interested in desantis, haley. interested in her. reporter: so i think that shows the opportunity here for many of the candidates on stage. really who are introducing themselves to voters, who are making their case. of course, the balancing act here is how much the former president dominates the conversation from the questioners. but voters we talk to are interested in hearing from the candidates who are going to be here. david, are we going to get substantive questions and answers on issues tonight? or is it beigoing to be all tru in. reporter: oh, no. the fox moderators indicated they are certainly going to ask about donald trump. donald trump going to be a character on this stage despite his being absent from the stage. but no doubt we are going to
Doug burgum. but obviously this is a debate without the dominant frontrunner and that will impact the debate. fox moderators have indicated that donald trump will be a topic that comes up, there will certainly be questions about that, so he will be looming over this debate even though he won t be here. trump is expected to be at one of his golf clubs during tonight s debate. all the candidates set to participate have signed a pledge to support the party s eventual nominee no matter who that might be. it is not clear whether trump has signed that pledge. tropical storm 23r57frankli threatening to bring heavy rainfall and flash floods to hispaniola today. the center for the storm is southwest of santo domingo and it is bringing with it strong and gusty winds. and they have already issued
Will his presence going to be on stage. but presumably will his presence be going to be on stage. but presumably will his presence be felt going to be on stage. but presumably will his presence be felt even - going to be on stage. but presumably will his presence be felt even if- going to be on stage. but presumably will his presence be felt even if he - will his presence be felt even if he is not physically there? how much do you think the tone of the debate will focus on him? the you think the tone of the debate will focus on him? will focus on him? the fox moderators will focus on him? the fox moderators will will focus on him? the fox moderators will be - will focus on him? the fox| moderators will be there. will focus on him? the fox. moderators will be there. i will focus on him? the fox- moderators will be there. i think the question is that none of the contenders want will be, which they pardon him. placing that question is properly not going to come up, i expect, bu
I think it will be interesting to see the fox moderators handle the trump situation. i would predict that the first question to each candidate will be was the election stolen so i am looking forward to that and the second is going to be how much are they going to make trump the issue in the campaign because the media has a tendency to cover the horse race and not necessarily the issues and i hope that the moderators will focus on some really serious issues like how to handle inflation, how would they handle the fact that people s ends are not meeting, how will they handle the nato question? support for ukraine and foreign policy? rick tyler, thank you and you will be back later on in the hour. can virginia s governor mount a late calendar bid for the white house and why does that make some democrats nervous? unrelenting high temperatures threatening to break new records nationwide. where those heat warnings will strike again and we will be
Biggest vulnerability. interestingly, the national journal s tim alberta has an interesting take on tonight s debate. he writes, the quote is, the most important person at tonight s debate won t be donald trump. it will will be hugh hewitt, one of the debate s moderator. trump s stumble on the radio sh show. hewitt says i m going to pose tough questions on policy tonight. you think donald trump is going to be ready for that? we ll see. i would actually argue at the last debate trump got some incredibly tough questions from the fox moderators and he ended up giving back as much as he was actually taking. as far as just the questions that were aimed at him, all tough, all fair, very good questions. but he gave it back. and i would it will be interesting to see the answers that he has for tonight. from hugh hewitt, from the moderators, everyone who really