Watch CBS News

Reagan Library Preps For Second GOP Presidential Debate

SIMI VALLEY (CBSLA.com) – The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley is gearing up for the second Republican presidential debate set to take place Wednesday.

Fifteen candidates will share the stage inside the Air Force One Pavilion. But they will be divided into two groups and square off in two segments.

The GOP presidential hopefuls, who will take part in the debate organized by CNN, are Gov. Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Gov. Bobby Jindal, Gov. George Pataki, Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Rick Santorum, Donald Trump and Gov. Scott Walker.

Click here to see which candidates will be in the 3 p.m. and the 5 p.m. lineups.

Reagan Library spokeswoman Melissa Giller said she expects at least 2,000 people to pack the library, 700 of which are guests in the audience. The rest will be members of the media and crews working the event.

Former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin of Huntington Park said the exchanges between Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina may be the highlights of the night.

"I believe that their interaction between the two, there could be hopefully some fireworks. That would be a good thing to have during the debate because I think Carly would benefit from it," Marin said. "She has gotten under his skin, obviously, because she's going up in the polls. That's what really bothers him, and he can't wait to knock her out."

But Republican consultant Rob Stutzman said Fiorina should be careful about not trying to out-trump Trump.

"I think you see if you try to go into Donald's face, the way he goes into your face, like Rand Paul did in the last debate, it doesn't turn out so well for you," Stutzman said. "So, I would love to see Carly in a very dismissive way put Donald in his place."

Because of the limited size of the seating area, tickets are not available to the general public and cannot be purchased.

The library itself will be closed Wednesday for the debate.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.