Republican candidate Mitt Romney is
under pressure to produce a strong
performance on Wednesday at his first
face-to-face debate with President
Barack Obama to try to turn around a
race for the White House that has been
edging away from him.
The 90-minute encounter offers the chance
to reach more than 60 million people on
television, a far greater audience than
watched either candidate speak at the
Democratic and Republican conventions.
While that has potential dividends in
attracting undecided voters, there is also the
risk that one or the other will make a major
mistake that can overshadow the campaign
in the last five weeks before the November 6
election.
Running behind in the polls, Romney is more
in need of a victory than Obama at the
University of Denver debate, the first of three
such face-offs scheduled in the next four
weeks.
“I think he’s got to have a pretty convincing
win,” said David Yepsen, director of the Paul
Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern
Illinois University. “He’s had a bad few weeks
and he needs to change the narrative of the
campaign.”
The Republican was damaged by a secretly
taped video from a private fundraiser in
which he said 47 percent of voters are
dependent on government and unlikely to
support him. It was only one of several recent
stumbles by the former Massachusetts
governor in his second presidential bid.
At the Denver debate, Romney needs not
only to repair some of the damage from the
video. He must raise questions about
Obama’s handling of the U.S. economy and
explain how his own plan would create more
jobs and cut the budget deficit.
Romney must get through the debate
without losing his cool and without appearing
to be disrespectful to Obama, who many
Americans like personally despite his struggle
to create jobs. And the often robotic
Republican could do with showing some
personality to make voters feel more
comfortable with him.
REUTERS
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