Final Hours before Democratic Debate
KINKADE: Welcome back. We're now just hours away from the first Democratic debate of the U.S. presidential campaign. Our Jim Acosta has been in Las Vegas, where we've set the stage for the showdown. He has a preview of what you can expect.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democratic debate day is here. What happens in Vegas could shake up the next stage of the race for five presidential hopefuls. Seasoned debater Hillary Clinton backed by solid early poll numbers in key states is establishing her presence at these debates. The former secretary of state making an unannounced stop at a union rally at Donald Trump's Vegas hotel, taunting the business tycoon.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Some people think Mr. Trump is entertaining. But I don't think it's entertaining when somebody insults immigrants, insults women. If you are going to run for president, then you should represent all the people of the United States.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Bernie Sanders has yet to do a mock debate and says he's going to play nice as long as his competitors do. The Vermont senator continues to pick up traction, seeing crowds 13,000 strong in Tucson, Arizona.</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VT.: Let's treat each other civilly. Let's treat each other respectfully. And let's not try to demonize people who may have disagreements with us.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): A stark contrast to the strategy of their counter- punching Republican rivals.</s>DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: I'd love to run against her because she is so flawed, I think she's very beatable. But she shouldn't even be allowed to run.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Clinton is prepping for the debate with veteran Washington attorney Bob Barnett. A senior Clinton aide said her main objective: cutting through the politics. As for Bernie Sanders, he's seeking to convince voters that he's a serious candidate with mainstream views. Meanwhile Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee and Martin O'Malley have a tough road ahead, all looking for a breakout moment on the stage. But in a betting town like Vegas, anything is possible.</s>KINKADE: Now I want to bring in CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona. Maria, great to have you with us from Las Vegas. Now the latest polls show Hillary Clinton -- the latest polls show Hillary Clinton has a strong lead. What will she had have to do to either maintain or increase that lead when she faces her competition on the stage?</s>MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Linda, I think that Hillary Clinton needs to wake up every single day and ignore those polls. She is the best candidate when she is acting like she is the underdog, when she is acting like she is running from behind. This is where we see the Hillary that can connect to voters, the Hillary that can talk substantively about all of her very detailed, very thoughtful policy proposals and why is it that she wants to wake up every single day and fight for the American people. And so I think tonight Hillary needs to be that person. She needs to connect with the voters, I think, in a way she hasn't been able to in the last four months because of all of the politics that have been swirling around the stories about the email, the stories about Benghazi. And I think she has a terrific opportunity to really focus on having that direct conversation with the American people about her plans, about her vision in terms of what she would do if she were lucky enough to be elected president.</s>KINKADE: Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, seems to have a very huge following amongst young people. What does he have to do to connect with a wider audience?</s>CARDONA: So tonight is Bernie Sanders' opportunity to also reintroduce himself -- or introduce himself, frankly. A lot of people still probably don't know a lot about him. He has been very popular, as you know, with the progressive Left in the Democratic Party. And he's also from a state, Vermont, that is not very demographically representative of the rest of the United States. So Bernie Sanders tonight has to do a couple things. The first one is to convince people that he is more than just the insurgent revolutionary, if you will, which is one of his big appeals, right, to those young people that you mentioned that he has a lot of following in. But I think he also has to do -- start doing a much better job of appealing to those different demographics that are not necessarily represented in Vermont, to the African American voters in the country, to the Latino voters in the country, to LGBT voters in the country, and speak to them specifically about why he does have their best interests at heart, about why his economic policies would be the best ones for their community to move forward. And so again, I think, for him and for Hillary, it is a great chance to speak to a much wider audience and have a direct conversation that, perhaps, for different --</s>CARDONA: -- reasons, they haven't been able to do that in the past four or five months.</s>KINKADE: OK. Maria Cardona from Las Vegas, we'll have to leave it there for now. But I'm sure we'll chat again before they take to the stage. Thanks very much.</s>CARDONA: Thanks so much, Lynda.</s>KINKADE: Now Donald Trump won't be on the debate stage but you can bet he'll still have a say. The Republican front-runner plans to tweet the debate -- during the debate to his 4 million followers. Trump has already made his disdain for the Democrat field apparent in some of his more colorful tweets. Now Anderson Cooper will moderate the debate with Don Lemon asking your questions submitted via Facebook. Live coverage at 8:30 pm on the U.S. East Coast. That's 1:30 am Wednesday in London. Or you can watch the replay, that's at 8:00 pm Wednesday in London, 9:00 pm Central European time. Still to come, an elderly British man is caught with homemade wine is Saudi Arabia. Now he's facing a very harsh punishment. But his family says he has cancer and won't survive it.