(AFP/Getty Images)
FOCUS ON LONG ISLAND:
Workers yesterday prepare Hofstra University for tomorrow night
’s crucial town-hall debate. (
)
WASHINGTON — President Obama needs a commanding performance when he meets Mitt Romney tomorrow night for their second presidential debate — but the format might make that difficult.
That’s because town-hall debates, such as the one planned for Hofstra University on Long Island, limit a candidate’s ability to mount an aggressive attack.
“In order to do well, you have to be ultraresponsive to the audience and their questions,” said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato.
“They almost never ask anything negative, and they almost always bristle when a candidate goes negative,” Sabato added. “He [President Obama] can’t conduct the second debate as a make-up session for his disastrous first debate, or he’ll lose the second one, too.”
Obama honed his debating skills at a Williamsburg, Va., resort over the weekend with message guru David Axelrod and Sen. John Kerry — who plays Romney in practice drills.
Longtime adviser Valerie Jarrett was also on hand, in another sign of how seriously Obama takes Round Two of the three-debate series.
His listless performance on Oct. 3 in Denver let Romney close the gap in swing states and move ahead in polls.
Axelrod told “Fox News Sunday” that Obama would be “making some adjustments” and promised an “aggressive” defense of his record.
Romney did his own prep sessions in Boston — and his camp expressed confidence the debate will swing even more support for the GOP challenger, who is now the race’s front-runner.
“The president can change his style. He can change his tactics. He can’t change his record. He can’t change his policies,” Romney adviser Ed Gillespie told CNN’s “State of the Union” yesterday.
Since Romney’s strong Denver performance, his crowds are bigger, his stump speeches are sharper, and he’s moved up the polls in New Hampshire, Florida, Virginia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
“It’s a whole new ballgame now,” said University of Richmond political scientist Dan Palazzolo. “That debate performance has basically reset the race.”