David Axelrod

I don't know whether it's a strategic decision or whether it's emotionally necessary for him. But the result of it is that we're going to have a very ugly aftermath if he doesn't win this election.

He has a very committed base. When he said, I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and I wouldn't lose a vote, he was right.

They are now turning their focus to winning Senate seats ... winning congressional seats.

His problem is his core supporters are not nearly enough to get elected president.

There is a sense that Hillary Clinton has control of this race.

If people sense that you just blew off the question or ... in order to get to your attack, it goes very badly.

The truth is they did have some very spirited exchanges over Benghazi and a number of other things, but both candidates were well prepped for those.

But, you know, if he goes into this debate as he did the last one and hasn't really rigorously prepped, I think the result could be about the same.

Well, first of all, I think it was pretty clear in the last debate that she was indeed doing debate prep because she was well prepared.

Pence has to stop the bleeding and hold the fort until Trump gets on that stage on Sunday night.

Kaine doesn't, you know, Kaine and Clinton don't understand business. We understand business.

The question is what kind of change and is it the change that Donald Trump is offering the kind of change people feel comfortable with.

There's a mood for change in the country.

I think there was great disappointment on the part of Republicans that Donald Trump didn't raise those kinds of issues in the last debate.

His behavior towards her, certainly the story about Alicia Machado did not score well among these millennials.

Well, she obviously she had a problem with them in 2008 as well. You know, I think part of it is presentation I don't think -- she's very cautious in the way she expresses how she tends to talk in terms that are kind of stereotypically…

I think she took some strides forward in the debate on Monday.

Neither of them were particularly evocative last night in terms of talking about people.

She raised what we know is a hot-button form. The fact that he was given money by his father to start his businesses.

We knew within 10, 15 minutes that we had lost the debate to Mitt Romney because the media reaction and the punditry were pounding us on Twitter.

It's very important to start quickly, make a big impact in the first 15 minutes.

Yes. And I think it works on a number of different levels. It speaks to this level of intolerance and divisiveness that bothers some of this college educated white voters but it's motivational for minority voters who need they need to…

Tonight is the final exam.

One of the things that was interesting earlier this week, 'The Wall Street Journal/NBC poll came out and they asked this question in July and they asked it in September, big change versus steady leadership.'

If Donald Trump truly hasn't prepped in the traditional way for this, it would be an extraordinary achievement to perform well under this kind of pressure.