Page 4 - Debate Setting News Today

Its the debate well have next. and its the debate the republicans are ready for. >> okay. >> is the president ready for it? he says everyone didnt get what they wanted, but what im always going to remember about this fiscal cliff is the presidents pep rally in the middle of the afternoon yesterday, absolutely surreal. the only thing was mitt romney in a debate setting. >> well hear from charles krauthammer about that. lets do other headlines, shall we? >> okay. >> countries around the world are ...

Issues for the president, he doesnt have the five-point plan. whatever you think of mitt romneys five-point plan, he said it at least three or four times last night, and there is something reassuring for folks who are looking for answers in having that level of specificity. >> you know, theres two things that leap out at me. were watching these images, this awkward physical spacing on this red rug thats been in place since the mid-70s for this debate setting. and what you notice is i do think th...

And i think, you know, both of them are, obviously, skilled debaters. i think the town hall format is one both of them are comfortable in. i think the president did a very good job four years ago in a town hall debate setting. hes comfortable with that direct interchange. the difference here is that the questions of the citizens are going to control the flow of the debate. and so that creates a little more unpredictability. but i expect both of them to be able to handle that pretty well. >> a fl...

Republican-leaning independents. a lot of those shift internally in the polls was -- sort of right-leaning independents moving into romney. i dont think those folks would be moving into romney now just naturally. i mean, i think that they needed a reason to get there. so actually, no. i think the debate did push him there. by the way, one quick point on the vp debate, the ryan folks are a little nervous that expectations are not in their favor, meaning theres this expectation that ryans going to...

Other telling them hey, you know what? the deductions are at risk. either way those are discussions hes not wanting to have. hes got to force him into a corner on that. let me ask you quickly, what do you think -- mr. ryan -- steve kornacki? >> i ive always been impressed by joe biden. the reason he ended up on the ticket in 2008 is because of all those primary dietz bates, when it was hillary and obama were the stars, but the guy invariably we end up saying won those debates was joe biden. hes ...

Bush? >> not so much. but i saw the same dynamic in 2004. probl president bush had not been debating in the primaries. thought he knew all the issues. hes dealing with them every day. didnt know how to frame the attack, frame the defense and he didnt do that well in his first debate with john kerry. i think exactly the same thing here. with obama sitting in those meetings saying i know this stuff, i deal with it all the time, but he hadnt been forced in a debate setting to say these are the offe...

Point for the democrats they thats a bonus for the romney campaign. the romney campaign has to be aggressive in the post debate setting to make sure that they are getting their points across because you know the obama team is going hard against them and this is where its going to be won or lost. >> one of the things that mitt romney did last night, he was giving personal examples of speaking to this person who had a problem, or this person who had a problem, people he met along the trail. he tal...

Those is in a debate setting. surprise the president with something hes never said before or if he wants to save that stuff for a more controlled environment. that will tell us as much about his temperament and his strategy as it will about his plans. let me bring in lawrence odonnell, chris. lawrence is in the spin room tonight, which i think has yet to begin to spin. lawrence, what do you think the expectations are on both sides tonight? >> reporter: well, rachel, in this room, there are a lot...

Quickly because, mike, i remember in realtime when we were looking at romneys debates. weve been very critical of romney from time to time when he deserved criticism. but i remember time and time again in the republican debates, you and me both saying, that guy won it. and he won it going away. and it wasnt just because a lot of people on the stage were drooling and couldnt remember their last names. mitt romney affirmatively won a lot of those debates, and he did a pretty damn good job. >> firs...

Presidents plan extracts $716 million away to pay for that. what paul ryan isnt telling his supporters is that his budget proposal also extracts that amount, but they say they use that to pay down the debt. >> one of the things im most looking forward to is governor romney and president obama, their styles are slightly similar in a debate setting. in a vp, in that debate setting, the styles could not be more different. >> joe biden is prone to a gaffe here or there. he likes to speak off the cuf...