Vice Presidential Debate Could Be Key Point For Obama Campaign
The vice presidential debate is often a sideshow to the presidential campaign, but this time around both candidates are looking for the Thursday night debate as a way to steal momentum in a suddenly close contest.
The race for president looked to be slipping away from Mitt Romney before he pulled back even with Barack Obama following a strong performance in last week’s presidential debate. Romney has now erased the post-convention bounce for Obama and brought himself into a tie in many national polls, and even a lead in others.
For the Obama campaign, Thursday’s vice presidential debate is a way to steal the momentum back, The Huffington Post noted. After admitting himself in an ABC interview that his debate performance was lackluster, Obama will be looking to Joe Biden to play the part of attack dog against GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan.
As Sam Stein of The Huffington Post noted, the fundamentals of the race still tilt toward Obama, and the vice presidential debate could be a chance to stop Romney’s rise in the polls:
But the soul-gripping panic that dominated the first days after the debate has subsided slightly, replaced by a more sober assessment. The race was bound to be close. And while polls have tightened in some critical swing states, it remains the president’s race to lose. On Wednesday evening, the National Journal reported that the Obama campaign’s internal polls had Romney narrowing Obama’s advantage in those states to within the margin of error.
“It’s not going to be easy,” said one Obama aide. “But it never was going to be.”
Joe Biden will have a chance in the vice presidential debate to call out Mitt Romney for his changes in policies and stances, a place where Obama failed last week.
For the Republicans, the vice presidential debate is also pivotal. They must be able to prove that the post-debate bounce for Romney is lasting and that voters can continue to see the GOP as a viable alternative to another Obama term.
