Obama looks for a debate boost ahead of November polls
Source: Agencies |
October 17, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BARACK Obama faces the daunting task in the second presidential debate of lifting the shadow left hanging over his campaign by his lackluster, momentum-stalling performance in the first face-off with Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Much as Obama needs to erase the memory of the first debate nearly two weeks ago, Romney will likewise need to turn in a repeat of his strong showing in the initial face-to-face-confrontation, a performance which propelled him into a virtual tie in nationwide polling.
With their debate falling exactly three weeks before the November 6 election, Obama will be fighting to hang on to small leads in many of the nine key swing states that likely will determine which man occupies the White House on Inauguration Day - January 20.
The so-called battleground states - those that do not reliably vote either Republican or Democratic - take on outsized importance in the US system where the president is chosen not by the nationwide popular vote but in state-by-state contests.
Beyond that, the debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, is seen as offering both candidates their best chance for a breakout moment with time running out in what promises to be one of the closest presidential contests in recent US history.
The candidates will take questions on domestic and foreign policy from an audience of about 80 of the coveted uncommitted voters whom both campaigns are courting furiously.
The town hall-style format makes it especially tricky for Obama to strike the right balance in coming on strong against Romney without appearing too negative to the audience and the tens of millions of Americans who will be watching on television..
In the first debate, Obama seemed to be caught unawares and unprepared to respond to Romney's sudden shift to more moderate positions from the hardline policies he had advocated during the fight for the Republican nomination.
In a new Web video released on Monday, the Obama campaign said Romney had not undergone an October conversion to more middle-of-the-road positions but was trying "to pull the wool over voters' eyes before Election Day."
While the candidates were closeted with advisers preparing for this debate, their campaign machinery continued to grind on.
Both sides released new ads, pushed at the grassroots level to lock in every possible voter, dispatched surrogates to rev up enthusiasm and kept running mates busy raising cash and campaigning in the most hotly contested states.
Obama's campaign turned to former President Bill Clinton yesterday to make the case against what it says is Romney's US$5 trillion tax cut.
Clinton appears in a Web video for the campaign, picking apart Romney's tax plan piece by piece, saying his approach "hasn't worked before and it won't work this time."
The president's campaign says Romney hid from his tax proposal during the first debate, and pledged Obama would be more aggressive in calling out his rival's shifts on that and other issues this time around.
Much as Obama needs to erase the memory of the first debate nearly two weeks ago, Romney will likewise need to turn in a repeat of his strong showing in the initial face-to-face-confrontation, a performance which propelled him into a virtual tie in nationwide polling.
With their debate falling exactly three weeks before the November 6 election, Obama will be fighting to hang on to small leads in many of the nine key swing states that likely will determine which man occupies the White House on Inauguration Day - January 20.
The so-called battleground states - those that do not reliably vote either Republican or Democratic - take on outsized importance in the US system where the president is chosen not by the nationwide popular vote but in state-by-state contests.
Beyond that, the debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, is seen as offering both candidates their best chance for a breakout moment with time running out in what promises to be one of the closest presidential contests in recent US history.
The candidates will take questions on domestic and foreign policy from an audience of about 80 of the coveted uncommitted voters whom both campaigns are courting furiously.
The town hall-style format makes it especially tricky for Obama to strike the right balance in coming on strong against Romney without appearing too negative to the audience and the tens of millions of Americans who will be watching on television..
In the first debate, Obama seemed to be caught unawares and unprepared to respond to Romney's sudden shift to more moderate positions from the hardline policies he had advocated during the fight for the Republican nomination.
In a new Web video released on Monday, the Obama campaign said Romney had not undergone an October conversion to more middle-of-the-road positions but was trying "to pull the wool over voters' eyes before Election Day."
While the candidates were closeted with advisers preparing for this debate, their campaign machinery continued to grind on.
Both sides released new ads, pushed at the grassroots level to lock in every possible voter, dispatched surrogates to rev up enthusiasm and kept running mates busy raising cash and campaigning in the most hotly contested states.
Obama's campaign turned to former President Bill Clinton yesterday to make the case against what it says is Romney's US$5 trillion tax cut.
Clinton appears in a Web video for the campaign, picking apart Romney's tax plan piece by piece, saying his approach "hasn't worked before and it won't work this time."
The president's campaign says Romney hid from his tax proposal during the first debate, and pledged Obama would be more aggressive in calling out his rival's shifts on that and other issues this time around.
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