This is not how Hillary Clinton planned to enter the first debate of the primary — battered, bruised and still trying to explain to voters the rationale for her candidacy six months after she launched it.

Clinton heads into Tuesday’s debate trailing Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire and holding on to just a small margin in Iowa. She’s fighting a pervasive image of a tainted insider who cannot be trusted. And much of the goodwill she socked away as secretary of state has been spoiled by her decision to use her personal email server during her tenure, drowning out almost all of the policy issues she had hoped to discuss since starting her campaign in April.


And then there is the growing spectre of Vice President Joe Biden’s entry into the race.

There is, however, a silver lining, Democratic strategists said — it means the easiest candidate for Clinton to trounce now on the debate stage is her own tattered image. "Can Hillary beat the image of today's Hillary? I would be shocked if she couldn't," one strategist said, comparing Clinton to Mitt Romney, who — when graded on a curve beat his own expectations in the first debate against President Barack Obama in 2012.

Her debate strategy is now expected to be two-pronged, according to campaign officials and people with knowledge of the debate preparations: She will attempt to embrace some of Sanders’ ideals while dismissing his solutions, and simultaneously try for a third time to introduce herself to the American public and explain her rationale for running.

She will arrive on the Las Vegas debate stage having poured over briefing books that underscore Sanders' problematic gun control votes, like his lack of support for the Brady Act, which established mandatory checks on gun sales, and his vote for the 2005 law that gave protection to firearm manufacturers from lawsuits filed by victims and their families. (She also unveiled her own specific gun control policies Monday, just eight days ahead of the debate.)

She is also expected to hold her ground on any attacks that question her fight for progressive values, and hammer home the point that it’s not about great rhetoric or speeches, it’s about results and who can deliver them.

Clinton’s team has also discussed how to inject skepticism into the minds of viewers by questioning how her challenger plans to pay for trillions of dollars in new initiatives he has proposed (The Wall Street Journal tallied his proposals to cost $18 trillion over 10 years), sources said.

In Las Vegas, Clinton's defenders from Correct the Record, a super PAC that coordinates with the campaign, and her staunch ally David Brock, are expected to have a large presence on the ground, beginning Monday night before the debate.

A campaign spokeswoman declined to comment on debate prep except to say that the campaign views it as an opportunity to explain — once again — why she is doing this. “Our fundamental goal coming out of the debate is to lay out why Hillary Clinton is running for president — who she’ll fight for, what she’ll do as president to address the issues that matter most to our country and to American families,” said campaign spokeswoman Christina Reynolds.

More than her kickoff speech on Roosevelt Island or any television appearance, the debate is expected to be “the most important event [to date] that will really align how people see the candidates,” said Mark Penn, Clinton’s 2008 chief strategist and pollster, who so far has refrained from weighing in on the race.

Clinton supporters are expecting Tuesday night to serve as an important reset for her campaign — she's generally a good performer at debates, solid on policy and has more experience with the format than the other Democrats on the stage. Longtime Clinton ally Paul Begala said Clinton needs to show off “the same righteous anger” she displayed on the "TODAY show, talking about the politicization of the Benghazi committee, but “over how the GOP is screwing the middle class, hurting women, denying opportunity to young people, demonizing LGBT Americans and trying to criminalize immigrants. Democrats want to see her fight back.”

Internally, Clinton’s top policy aide Jake Sullivan has been overseeing debate prep — a role played by her top policy adviser Neera Tanden in 2008. Outside advisers Ron Klain — Biden’s former chief of staff — and Karen Dunn, a former Clinton adviser and onetime White House associate counsel under Obama, are also in the debate prep room helping, sources said. Her longtime attorney Bob Barnett has been playing Sanders in mock debates, The New York Times reported Tuesday, and Sullivan has taken on the role of former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Clinton debates with Obama, the eventual nominee in 2008. | Getty

It's a reprise for some people who watched her practice last time — Sullivan and Barnett were also involved in debate prep in 2008. That year, Clinton’s biggest struggle during mock debate sessions was trying to keep her answers down to the 30- or 90-second blocks of time, former aides said. The two-hour prep sessions were often tense, with the candidate blowing up at some of the attacks lobbed at her. That cycle, she started preparing for debates a month out, pouring over briefing points that laid out all of her positions in bullet, soundbite form, as well as her opponents’ positions and lines of attack.

The upcoming debate also poses a challenge for Sanders, who is riding high after almost matching Clinton in fundraising last quarter, but must still convince voters he can be competitive in a general election.

Begala’s advice to Sanders was also to contrast himself with the Republicans, not the other candidates sharing the stage. “I would tell him to go after the Republicans hard: show Democrats what kind of standard bearer he would be in 2016. One of the reasons I think Sen. Sanders has done so well is he has not fallen into the trap of attacking Hillary.”

The Democrats have promised a sober, respectful policy discussion on the CNN stage that will stand in contrast to the fireworks from the Republicans.

Sanders’ team, however, is hoping to highlight how Clinton has been a latecomer on important progressive issues. Sanders “opposed the PATRIOT Act, the war in Iraq, the Defense of Marriage Act, don’t ask, don’t tell,” said spokesman Michael Briggs when asked how he will take on Clinton at the debate. “Is it an opportunity to talk about some of the serious issues facing the country where his record and others’ may differ? Yes.”