Rubio Tees Up Foreign Policy Attack on Trump; Can Anyone Knock Trump Down; How Trump is Preparing for Debate
BOLDUAN: Just hours from now, the big Texas showdown, the Republican presidential rivals will face off in the final debate before Super Tuesday. And for everyone on the stage not named Donald clear, the mission it clear, outshine him or take him down. Joining me now, Alex Burns, political correspondent for "The New York Times," and Barry Bennett, former campaign manager for Ben Carson, now advising the Donald Trump campaign. Guys, it's great to see you. Alex, you wrote a great piece in "The Times," laying out where Donald Trump can be hurt, where he can lose still even though he has all of this momentum. One of the things you point out is if debates like tonight turn against him, that could be part of his town fall. Explain.</s>ALEX BURNS, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: There's this idea across the party that Donald Trump is this invincible figure that nothing hurts him. We actually saw in South Carolina that's not the case. He won the state comfortably, but after that final debate where he was sort of red faced and shouting, going at Bush, talking about 9/11 in terms of really turning off conservatives, there was a drop in his support. You saw among voters who decided late in the race, they tended to support other candidates rather than Trump. The final debate including, especially, maybe the one tonight are opportunities for Trump's rivals who have shied away to strip the bark off.</s>BOLDUAN: In your thinking, do you think it's more going to be a misstep on Trump's part or somebody landing a punch.</s>BURNS: A month, it could have either/or. Now, it might have to be both. He's built a commanding position. It might not be enough for Rubio to really go at him finally. He might have to trip himself up as well.</s>BOLDUAN: What do you think, Barry?</s>BARRY BENNETT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think the debate format lends itself to moving numbers much at all.</s>BOLDUAN: Come on.</s>BOLDUAN: What do you think happened to Marco Rubio in that debate before New Hampshire?</s>BENNETT: Well, but did it last? No. A week later it was gone. Carly Fiorina did really well in Cleveland and got a big bump. Six days later it was gone. It affects the news cycle but doesn't affect the polling.</s>BOLDUAN: But Donald Trump rules the news cycle. There's where a lot of his rivals say he's doing so well. Can it be both?</s>BENNETT: You know, I mean, some people buy into the notion that people are voting for Donald Trump. I think they're aligning with Donald Trump. They want to burn Washington to the ground, and they're sure he's going to do it. They're not buying into he's the most handsome or the most elegant. They don't care. They want somebody to go to Washington and burn it down.</s>BOLDUAN: Barry, I want to get your take on the two latest polls. We have a poll out of Florida that looked good for Trump, 44 over Rubio at 28. And then the poll out of Texas, just came out, Cruz leading with 38 percent. And then the fight for number two between Trump and Rubio, 23 to 21. Do you think Trump could pull it out in Texas? Cruz is very confident of his operation there.</s>BENNETT: I don't know. We'll find out. The difference is that this Tuesday it's kind of a complete absence of television advertising for the first time. We're all just living off the news cycle. Tell me what's been on the news every night, and I can tell you where I think the electorate decided. But I don't see anything that's going to reverse an 18 point in Florida. Texas, some polls have Cruz up. Some people have it very close. I don't know which is correct.</s>BOLDUAN: Real quick, what do you think of the one thing that Cruz and Rubio need to do tonight?</s>BURNS: I think Cruz needs to play to his core strength and make sure Trump doesn't undercut his basic level of support with evangelicals and conservative activists. Look, if we come out of Super Tuesday -- because the Republican establishment is trying to push Cruz out of this race. If we come out of Super Tuesday and he's the only candidate besides Trump who has won states, won Texas and one or two others, it's hard to get him out of the race.</s>BOLDUAN: Absolutely. On this issue, Mitt Romney says there is now, in his words, good reason to believe there's a bombshell in Donald Trump's taxes. Trump has rejected that. He's taken to Twitter to take them on, calling Romney a dope. Barry, will Donald Trump release his tax returns?</s>BENNETT: I have no idea.</s>BOLDUAN: Should he?</s>BENNETT: It's up to him. I think that it is a little bit disingenuous for Mitt Romney, who was Harry Reid'ed on his own tax returns.</s>BOLDUAN: Focus on the here and now. Even if Mitt Romney is the wrong messenger, does it look like Donald Trump has something to hide if he doesn't release the tax returns? It's become the standard among Republican candidates.</s>BENNETT: I think he's very wealthy and wealthy people don't like to show their numbers very often.</s>BURNS: It has been the standard practice for presidential candidates forever to release them. Whether or not Romney is taking this criticism late enough for it to make a difference in this Republican race, this is just a tiny preview of what the Democrats would do to Donald Trump in a general election, the questions they would raise about his business dealings and about honesty and his character.</s>BOLDUAN: Americans have become accustomed to having this amount of transparency with presidential candidates. Guys, it's great to see you. We'll see if what happens tonight and if it matters.</s>BOLDUAN: I think it does. Great to see you both. Coming up for us, no question Donald Trump is the target in tonight's CNN GOP debate. How is the front runner preparing for the onslaught? A Trump supporter and former political director for Ronald Reagan will be joining us to talk strategy.