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Today's Poll!Obama trying to avoid miscue in first debate
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — President Barack Obama has one mission heading into his first debate with Republican Mitt Romney: Don't screw things up.
Five weeks from Election Day, Obama has political momentum and an edge in polls of the battleground states that will determine the election. But he's sure to face a blistering challenge from Romney, who needs to use Wednesday's debate in Denver to change the trajectory of the race.
Both parties say the first debate traditionally helps the challenger, whose stature tends to rise in the eyes of many voters by simply appearing on stage as the alternative. Seeking to mitigate that effect, Obama aides are working with the president on keeping command of the debate while not being overly aggressive.
The president retreated to a desert resort in Nevada for three days of intensive debate preparation for Wednesday night. He was joined by a cadre of top advisers, who are focused on helping Obama trim his often-lengthy explanations to fit the debate format. Equally important is coaching Obama to look calm and presidential during an onslaught of criticism from Romney.
Obama's campaign has tried — to the point of hyperbole — to lower expectations for the president and portray him as an underdog who hasn't had enough time to get ready.
"He has had less time to prepare than we anticipated," campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said Sunday. "It's difficult to schedule significant blocks of time when you're the president."
What the expectation-lowering aides leave out is that Obama, in fact, has had plenty of time to prepare at the White House and during long flights on Air Force One. And they never mention that only Obama, not Romney, has more experience with general election debates.
The president's aides also have tried to set sky-high expectations for Romney, casting him as a strong debater who won the GOP nomination in part because of the way he dispatched his many competitors in the crucial primary debates.
"Mitt Romney ... has been preparing earlier and with more focus than any presidential candidate in modern history," Psaki said. "Not John F. Kennedy, not President Bill Clinton, not President George Bush, not Ronald Reagan has prepared as much as he has."
The most pressing task for Obama, who once taught law at the University of Chicago, is shedding his often wordy, detailed explanations in favor of tighter answers. Aides say Obama isn't coming prepared with a series of "zingers," just more concise descriptions of his positions and his criticisms of Romney's.
Despite Obama's reputation as a gifted speaker, his 2008 debate performances were uneven.
He stumbled in several multicandidate forums during the early days of the 2008 campaign, with his most prominent low point coming when Obama said, with a touch of sarcasm, that rival Hillary Rodham Clinton was "likable enough." But the debates that fall against Republican John McCain helped Obama fend off suggestions that he was too inexperienced for the White House and show that he had what it took to be president.
Obama aides have been reviewing Romney's debates, both in the 2008 and 2012 Republican primaries and from his statewide races in Massachusetts. They've also been studying recordings of prior presidential debates for signs of what pitfalls could face an incumbent.
Aides say they've noticed Romney often launches a fresh critique against his opponent early in the debates, something that hasn't been part of the campaign discussion thus far. During a primary debate earlier this year, Romney caught rival Newt Gingrich off-guard by bringing up investments he held in mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Aides also are prepping the president for a moment they say Romney has already telegraphed: Accusing the president of lying about the Republicans' positions.
"This is a guy who will not back off delivering the negative and that's not the easiest thing to do," said Tad Devine, a Democratic strategist who is not working with Obama's team but advised the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in his 1994 Senate campaign against Romney.
Obama and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who is playing Romney, have held several lengthy debate preparation sessions at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, a short drive away from the White House. Former White House aides Anita Dunn and Ron Klain have been brought in to help run the sessions.
Obama's preparations here in Nevada are expected to mirror his approach from 2008, when he got ready for the first debate against McCain at a hotel in Palm Beach, Fla. Obama's campaign held daylong preparation sessions that included mock debates starting at 9 p.m., the same time as the actual debate. The practice debates were held on a replica of the debate stage "practically right down to the carpeting," White House adviser David Plouffe wrote in his 2009 book, "The Audacity to Win."
The president's team picked Nevada for this year's debate camp in part because it's one of the eight or so battleground states that will determine the election. Obama held a campaign rally in Las Vegas Sunday night and stopped by a campaign office in Henderson Monday to thank staffers and volunteers. He may make more local stops while he's in town, all aimed at driving local media coverage.
Others leading Obama's debate prep include senior campaign adviser David Axelrod, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer and top economic adviser Gene Sperling. Obama's chief of staff Jack Lew, campaign pollster Joel Benenson and speechwriter Jon Favreau are also assisting the president.
Thomas reported from Washington.
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Comments
GrumpyGus 8 months, 2 weeks ago
Wish he could have avoided all the miscues the last 4 years...but of course thats not important. The debates, the debates are what's important. One or two zingers of dubious levels of truthiness should easily erase 4 years of incompetence.
MO4LIFE 8 months, 2 weeks ago
I don't know about the rest of you but i am better off now than 4 years ago working 40 hours a week. Bin Laden is Dead, US Auto industry is back on top, Unemployment is a lot better than it was 4 yrs ago too. But you will never please the Tea Partiers who are all about self and no sense of community. Dem or Republican sees a homeless person on the street. The reality is they both would help but if a Tea Partier is watching a republican will not do a thing because the republican party is Beholden to Norquist and the Tea partiers over everything else including the USA.
GrumpyGus 8 months, 2 weeks ago
Unfortunately our kids can't say the same. They currently owe 5 figures each in federal debt (25 percent of which is directly attributable to the current WH occupant)...and none of mine are older than 7. Your unemployment claim is to be polite, wrong, and in truth a flat out lie. Fewer people work today than 4 years ago. Average income is down, foodstamp use is at record levels, the world is burning under Mohammedan rule in the middle east and Obama exacerbates the problem. Fast & Furious guns killing Mexicans and Americans. People are dying because of this man. When you are dead and gone, our kids and grandkids will be the ones with the surprised look on their face paying debt that gained this nation absolutely NOTHING! You are selfish and petty looking out only for your self interest and then project that disgusting state on people you disagree with. Liberalism is a mental illness.
asb 8 months, 2 weeks ago
Sounds very awful. But it's wrong. The middle east is freer today than in a hundred years, and if they want Mohammad's ideas in charge, it's their choice, as long as they're prepared for the consequences. Every president of the last two decades is directly responsible for this, and mostly to the good. Fast and Furious my AR15. Nobody on Earth is more than a few bucks away from nearly any weapon they want, and many of them come right out of our factories. Bad management by two administrations is not murder. Record numbers of folks out of work and on food stamps, what a code. Of course there are, the middle class has been robbed and raped by greed and lies and many are broke. Millions are out of work and without the homes or retirement they worked all their lives for, while the transfer of their wealth to the fewest in history goes on care of the greatest period of scaming and stealing in our history. People are dying because of this man? Can that not be said of EVERY AMERICAN PRESIDENT in history? A commander in chief kills, it's one of their jobs. But it's not out of malice or incompetence, it's through the constant effort to protect our freedoms and the struggle against our enemies. Only to be underminded by fearful and hateful dogs of endless greed. To accuse Obama of murder, andyou just did, your helping the worst among us. If you think our debt gains us nothing, then shut down the military, close the highways, destroy Social Security, and by all means, repeal ACA and send us back to the second and third worlds of medicine; affordable only by the wealthiest. Nonsense! And your 25% of our debt coming from this WH is another lie that sounds good to you so you pass it on.
Sequoia 8 months, 2 weeks ago
Listen to Michael Savage much? You sound just like him. Is he your hero?
A vote for Republicans is a vote for an invasion of Iran, with all the body bags, borrowed cash and blank checks that comes with that. Don't make any mistake about the stakes. Don't be a fool here.
The problem is that our economy is too dependent on debt-financed consusmer spending. Neither party has the guts to state the simple fact that the people of Earth can keep burning and extracting natural resources, turning it into junk, buying it on credit and throwing it in a landfill in Africa for only so long. This is the cost of our desire, and no one has the guts to face it, let alone pay it up. You think the budget deficit is bad? Our deficit of soul, and our desperate attempt to fill the hole with "lifestyle" is far more costly.
We've left our children a world where corporations are people, and people are "consumers." Talk about spending with no gain.
Talk about mental illness.
Your rants you can barely remember from last night's talk radio shows don't even come close to touching the depth of the problem.
newone 8 months, 2 weeks ago
Thousands of people died in a war that was started by Bush, one we should have never been in in the first place, which also ran up the debt by millions which gained this nation absolutely NOTHING!
asb 8 months, 2 weeks ago
I want all the Obama haters, and particularly the Teaparty supporters, to go to teaparty.com and the teaparty facebook pages; and check out what's their real agenda. It isn't all about them, it's all about fear. Some of the most anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-islam (horribly so), and anti working class stuff you'll ever see. This is a party about being male, white and in charge, period. There's been a distinct, and very wrong, trend away from their original supposedly anti-tax anti big-gov push started in the days of Beck They're expressing a racist, mysogenist, disgusting collection of ideas by thugs that have bullied Congress and lied to the American people relentlessly for the last few years. They've grown careless. They read like sticky-shoed pamphleteers of yesteryear, of the old South trying to hold on, of men fearfull of competing with women, of corporate goons trying to get the working class down to the minimum wage and respect. It's terrible, and it's right out there for all to see. Forget the economics and policy blarney, it's all about fear and hate. Go ahead and vote for them, sign yourself, and never forget what you fell for and helped promote.
3336 8 months, 2 weeks ago
Where was all this President bashing when we wnt to two wars and also set up pres drug d and it was not added into the budget?????????????????
connor 8 months, 2 weeks ago
Nothing but cliche and hypocrisy as usual from Obama supporters.
Personal wealth down by some astronomical percentage, except for the rich who were Obama bundlers that is.
Misdirection about the Mid-East being more free now. Unless of course you happen to be one of the original religions of the Middle East like Jewish or Christian. Even Buddhist and Zoroastrian churches are being attacked now But those people mean nothing to American Liberals because they don't help them attack the democratic coalition's main target group.
Trying to claim the the Tea Party is anti-everything yet even the anti's are in direct conflict with each other. I have never figured out how a Western Liberal can be pro femi-naughtzy bias and complain about anti-Islam oppression at the same time other than it is just another tool to attack traditional Western Values.
Let's add in they are now claiming Romney will attack Iran when it was Obama that attacked Libya (and see were that got us guess we need another ambassador now). Electing Obama again will assure a run on body bags starting with Israeli civilians.
Wanna talk about lies. How about all the dead American and Mexican agents and children killed by under handed and illegal government sponsored gun running by the Obama administration. Directly solely as Obama said for "Under the Radar Gun Control".
I do not want to even contemplate another four years of Obama supreme court appointments. Wise Latina here we come. But that wasn't a racist thing to say was it?
The greatest wealth redistribution in history is indeed happening. It is going to the over stuffed government employees and unions. All Obama supporters and all paid off first while sticking the investors with the bill in the Glorious Auto revolution of 2009. Now GM can't even make a car that sells and is once again in dire financial straights and they haven't even paid us back yet. Don't pay attention to all the burned up garages though.
At this point the financial end is inevitable we have one chance at keeping a lid on things before we hit the cliff and retain as many of our individual rights as we can. Re-electing Obama is not that road and will only make the final outcome that much more painful and the divisions that much deeper when it is time to pay the piper.
But go ahead and put in a vote for Obama hoping to keep all your loot coming in. By going down that road at least we will get there quicker so it does have some merit as a shortcut.
Sequoia 8 months, 2 weeks ago
I think the term is "femi-nazi." Ha. Geez Louise. That's something you heard from Rush Limbaugh, right? You repeat stuff off the radio, and you don't even know what you're saying. You're like a parrot, dude. You don't even know the words you're repeating. Did you ever wonder for a minute what a "femi-naughtzy" might be? Did you ever think, "That's not a word. That doesn't make any sense."
You didn't, did you? You just typed it and kept going. Ha!
What's so hard to understand about being pro-female and anti-Islamic mysogyny? Why have you never understood that? What exactly don't you understand? Oppressing women is bad, mkay, whether you're a right wing Islamist or a right wing Christian (different names for God, same complete misunderstanding of His Word).
Obama didn't attack Libya. We helped the people of Libya who were uprising against Quadafi. What on earth are you talking about? You can't act concerned about Libya when you were silent on Iraq. You're a fake.
Your "thoughts" are just a jumble of things you heard on talk radio. You can't even spell the words you're using. You don't even know what you're saying.
The idea that people are voting for Obama because of "loot" coming in is just manufactured nonsense.
Nobody is buying this junk except the talk-radio die hards. I've been saying for years that the conservative "movement" needs to get its head out of its own behind, quit getting suckered by talk show hosts who are just making BANK off of you, look around at the world and develop a platform based on reality and conservative principles.
Go ahead, ignore me. The conservative "movement" is sinking the Republican party and conservative values. You guys are about to get straight up trounced.
connor 8 months, 2 weeks ago
Wrong again as usual. For one thing I don't listen to talk radio because I am at work during the day. I sometimes catch a lil bit of Hannity on the way home but with the commercials it isn't much.
Also I say Naughtzi or whatever spelling I use at any given time because as touchy as this forum is I figured nazi was a flagged word. Just never tested it because I never cared enough to try.
I guess since air attacks don't count as actual attacks we started WWII with Japan. How evil of us.
You are about as transparent as glass. Would have gotten nowhere without affirmative action which your sisters in arms sold as equality for others but have not allowed any other gender or race to have a real part of. Not that any sort of upward mobility is recognizable in your rants. If it wasn't for bribing every victim group out there to ally with your dreams of crushing the White male underfoot you would be nowhere and that is where you will end up.
The only weapons you have are crying "women were oppressed" and "Republicans want to take your stuff away" Your scared to death we may get a level playing field after everyone elses money is spent and don't know what to do except attempt to bribe women with promises of more loot and use your slight numerical advantage to wage a war by vote.
Just go watch Rachel Madcow on MSDNC and get some new talking points.
copcamaro 8 months, 2 weeks ago
Sequoia: Speaking of rants! Read your own comments and then you will really read the rants!!!!! remember Odumma's words I visited all 57 states and when elected we will be ready to RULE. not govern, RULE These were his words, not mine.
3336 8 months, 2 weeks ago
I never realized Jeff City had so many haters. I just don't understand where all this anti whatever language is coming from. I've always thought people were people regardless of race; all our blood is red, so why so much bitterness. Every President that has ever been in office has made mistakes and will continue, nothing is perfect, I just don't appreciate all this anti race stuff. We are the ones who are creating seperation because we let ours mouths create bitterness; even if we don't say anything and just read all this it makes a person want to throw up. Do we want to continue on this road, I'm just shocked, is this really what Jeff City is all about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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