From my report on tomorrow's presidential debate: 
 
 The town hall debate is the one presidential face-off in which the audience gets to ask the questions. 
 
 But don’t tell that to moderator Candy Crowley. 
 
 Like any journalist worthy of the assignment, Crowley concedes that the debate on Tuesday night isn’t about her, but she just as eagerly acknowledges her role in it. 
 
 “I understand that I’m there. I’m not a fly on the wall,” she told POLITICO recently. “We don’t want the candidates to spout talking points. That doesn’t help voters … I’m going to react organically to what’s happening.” 
 
 In a move that has unnerved both campaigns, Crowley, the host of CNN’s “State of the Union,” is indicating she intends to play an active role in a debate meant to be dictated by an audience of independent voters. 
 
 “Once the table is kind of set by the town hall questioner, there is then time for me to say, ‘Hey, wait a second, what about x, y, z?’,” Crowley told CNN earlier this month. 
 
 These remarks and others have upset both campaigns, according to a new report by Time magazine’s Mark Halperin and confirmed by POLITICO. “In a rare example of political unity,” Halperin reports, “both the Romney and the Obama campaigns have expressed concern to the Commission on Presidential Debates about how the moderator of the Tuesday town hall has publicly described her role.” 
 
 Per the Commission, the questions asked at Tuesday’s debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., are to be determined by an audience of undecided voters. Crowley’s role, according to the contract signed by both campaigns, is limited to “managing” the discussion. She is not supposed to “rephrase the question or open a new topic”, “ask follow-up questions,” “or otherwise intervene in the debate except to acknowledge the questioners from the audience or enforce the time limits, and invite candidate comments during the two-minute response period.” 
 
 Rules be damned: Crowley has given every indication that she intends to assert herself in the debate. 
 
 In another interview, on Oct. 11, Crowley told CNN, “The nice thing will be, if the town hall person asks about apples, and they answer oranges, I get to say, ‘Wait a second, the question was about apples — let’s talk about that.” 
 
 Crowley’s aggressive approach is not without precedent. During 2008’s town hall debate, NBC’s Tom Brokaw reworded many of the questions from the audience, and was criticized for it. 
 
 But Crowley enters this year’s town hall debate in a unique position. For one, she follows in the footsteps of ABC’s Martha Raddatz, the moderator of last week’s vice presidential debate, who exhibited control and authority where her own predecessor, PBS’s Jim Lehrer, exhibited powerlessness and laxity. In the shadow of Raddatz, Crowley will be expected to exert a similar command of the conversation. 
 
 Crowley is also the first woman to moderate a presidential debate in 20 years, and the second in presidential debate history. She says it doesn’t matter — “My first reaction was not that I’m a woman, because that’s always been a part of me,” she told POLITICO in an interview last week — but the honor comes with inevitable responsibility. Voters will be looking to Crowley to insert a female perspective into the conversation. 
 
 Continue reading... 
 
 Read more about: Presidential Debates 2012, Presidential Debate At Hofstra University ||||| Obama, Romney look to channel Bill Clinton in next presidential debate By Justin Sink - Tweet Both Mitt Romney and President Obama are looking to channel one man at Tuesday night's debate: former President Bill Clinton. 
 
 
 
 According to political consultants on both sides of the aisle, Clinton's 1992 performance against then-President George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot serves the gold standard of the town-hall format. 
 
 
 
 It's a high bar for Obama and Romney to meet in their second presidential debate, where they'll be questioned by undecided voters for 90 minutes at Hofstra University. Neither one of them excels at that type of retail politics, and with the presidential election essentially deadlocked with just three weeks to go, the stakes — and pressure — couldn't be much higher. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "Bill Clinton understood the choreography of the debate — he walked up to the questioner, physically got close to them, and answered them directly," said Democratic strategist Tad Devine. "He came across better because of the human connection, while the other candidates stood near their chairs, and looked like they were distant." 
 
 
 
 Clinton's success was one part genuine political skill, and one part stagecraft. The former president made sure to walk out close to the audience so that camera shots included undecided voters flanking him from the sides. And Clinton spoke plainly, either enumerating his positions into digestible soundbites or referencing people he had met on the campaign trail or during his time as governor of Arkansas. 
 
 
 
 But unlike Clinton, who cut his teeth climbing the ranks of Arkansas politics, neither Romney nor Obama has shown a particular aptitude at the challenging art of the town hall. 
 
 
 
 "Obama has to connect with people on a level he's not used to, meaning he can't be the professor and lecture; nor can Mitt Romney be the business executive looking at things systematically," said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean. 
 
 
 
 Democratic strategist Christy Setzer agrees that "neither of the candidates are particularly adept at these one-on-ones," in the way that someone like Clinton or Vice President Biden can authentically speak about middle America. 
 
 
 
 "You have to be Oprah here," said Setzer. "You have to get into the audience and you have to be involved." 
 
 
 
 That style could force Obama to face one of his biggest concerns from the first debate: he has seemed detached from debate proceedings, either taking notes or looking at the floor as his opponent speaks. 
 
 
 
 "The emotional energy in a town hall is kinetic," said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak. "If you're walking around, hearing directly from people, it's different than a moderator asking questions. With actual voters, you never know what you're going to get, and there can be real moments. By virtue of that alone, Obama should be better than he was before." 
 
 
 
 But the incumbent president also faces a stiff challenge. His shaky debate performance earlier this month led to a rapid decline in the polls that seems to only recently have stabilized; another misstep could seriously damage his prospects for reelection. 
 
 
 
 Moreover, some aides have pledged that Obama will more aggressively challenge Romney on the Republican nominee’s recent pivots toward the middle. 
 
 
 
 “He has to demonstrate and show passion and a kind of fighting spirit,” said Democratic strategist Doug Thornell. “He has to reassure Democrats and his base that he’s pushing back and calling out Gov. Romney on some of his past statements that he’s now trying to abandon.” 
 
 
 
 But strategists say that while the town hall might naturally get the president more engaged in the back-and-forth, it could also handcuff his ability to adopt an attack dog role. 
 
 
 
 “No way can he pull a Joe Biden, because it would seem disrespectful,” said Bonjean. “The president is under a tremendous amount of pressure to show aggressiveness, but he really has to thread the needle, because it will be hard to challenge Romney in this forum without looking too aggressive.” 
 
 
 
 If Obama launches off into unprompted attacks on Romney, or spends too much time correcting the record, rather than answering questions posed by undecided voters, it could undermine his effort. 
 
 
 
 Romney senior adviser Ed Gillespie also believes that the president will also struggle to defend his record, which will, as a byproduct of incumbency, be a relevant issue for undecided voters. 
 
 
 
 "The president can change his style, he can change his tactics, he can't change his record, he can't change his policies,” Gillespie told CNN. 
 
 
 
 Unsurprisingly, the Obama campaign feels as if it's up to the task. 
 
 
 
 “You should expect that he’s going to be firm but respectful in correcting the record and the times we expect Mitt Romney will hide from and distort his own policies,” said Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki. “He’s energized and I expect he will also be making a passionate case. The audience is the people in the room but also the people at home and certainly he takes that into account in how he’s preparing and looking ahead to tomorrow.” 
 
 
 
 And Democratic strategists argue that it’s possible to use the town-hall format to their advantage, challenging Romney to provide policy specifics on what deductions would be eliminated from his tax plan or which government programs would be cut in his budget. 
 
 
 
 “You have to do it a little more delicately, but it’s almost more appropriate when you’re surrounded by voters to turn and say, look, they deserve to know what you’re going to do on these things and why you are hiding from the American people,” said Thornell. 
 
 
 
 Devine, a veteran of the Gore and Kerry campaigns, also says that while many assume the pressure is on Obama on Tuesday night, Romney could also be facing a make-or-break moment. 
 
 
 
 “If [Romney] falls short, he runs a risk of backsliding really quickly,” Devine. “Romney’s problem, if he doesn’t do really well, is that voters are going to go back to what they already believe, and the polls show that even now, the president leads not just where he needs to, but on the whole range of leadership issues.” 
 
 
 
 But another disastrous performance could put the proverbial nail in the president’s reelection coffin. Romney’s win in the first debate was the largest in the history of the Gallup poll, and the president has seen his leads in crucial swing states like Virginia, Florida and Colorado evaporate. 
 
 
 
 “Obama doesn’t talk to people, he certainly doesn’t get hard questions from real people regularly, and so pulling out a Clinton ‘I feel your pain’ thing — it’s just an impossible standard,” said Mackowiak. “Democrats just have unrealistic expectations of what is possible for Obama in this one.” 
 
 Tweet View Comments The '92 debate was a full-bore demonstration of Clinton at his best "I feel your pain" moment, with the future president engaging and empathizing with his audience over a struggling economy as his opponents never strayed far from their seats and spoke in generalities or theories."Bill Clinton understood the choreography of the debate — he walked up to the questioner, physically got close to them, and answered them directly," said Democratic strategist Tad Devine. "He came across better because of the human connection, while the other candidates stood near their chairs, and looked like they were distant."Clinton's success was one part genuine political skill, and one part stagecraft. The former president made sure to walk out close to the audience so that camera shots included undecided voters flanking him from the sides. And Clinton spoke plainly, either enumerating his positions into digestible soundbites or referencing people he had met on the campaign trail or during his time as governor of Arkansas.But unlike Clinton, who cut his teeth climbing the ranks of Arkansas politics, neither Romney nor Obama has shown a particular aptitude at the challenging art of the town hall."Obama has to connect with people on a level he's not used to, meaning he can't be the professor and lecture; nor can Mitt Romney be the business executive looking at things systematically," said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean.Democratic strategist Christy Setzer agrees that "neither of the candidates are particularly adept at these one-on-ones," in the way that someone like Clinton or Vice President Biden can authentically speak about middle America."You have to be Oprah here," said Setzer. "You have to get into the audience and you have to be involved."That style could force Obama to face one of his biggest concerns from the first debate: he has seemed detached from debate proceedings, either taking notes or looking at the floor as his opponent speaks."The emotional energy in a town hall is kinetic," said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak. "If you're walking around, hearing directly from people, it's different than a moderator asking questions. With actual voters, you never know what you're going to get, and there can be real moments. By virtue of that alone, Obama should be better than he was before."But the incumbent president also faces a stiff challenge. His shaky debate performance earlier this month led to a rapid decline in the polls that seems to only recently have stabilized; another misstep could seriously damage his prospects for reelection.Moreover, some aides have pledged that Obama will more aggressively challenge Romney on the Republican nominee’s recent pivots toward the middle.“He has to demonstrate and show passion and a kind of fighting spirit,” said Democratic strategist Doug Thornell. “He has to reassure Democrats and his base that he’s pushing back and calling out Gov. Romney on some of his past statements that he’s now trying to abandon.”But strategists say that while the town hall might naturally get the president more engaged in the back-and-forth, it could also handcuff his ability to adopt an attack dog role.“No way can he pull a Joe Biden, because it would seem disrespectful,” said Bonjean. “The president is under a tremendous amount of pressure to show aggressiveness, but he really has to thread the needle, because it will be hard to challenge Romney in this forum without looking too aggressive.”If Obama launches off into unprompted attacks on Romney, or spends too much time correcting the record, rather than answering questions posed by undecided voters, it could undermine his effort.Romney senior adviser Ed Gillespie also believes that the president will also struggle to defend his record, which will, as a byproduct of incumbency, be a relevant issue for undecided voters."The president can change his style, he can change his tactics, he can't change his record, he can't change his policies,” Gillespie told CNN.Unsurprisingly, the Obama campaign feels as if it's up to the task.“You should expect that he’s going to be firm but respectful in correcting the record and the times we expect Mitt Romney will hide from and distort his own policies,” said Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki. “He’s energized and I expect he will also be making a passionate case. The audience is the people in the room but also the people at home and certainly he takes that into account in how he’s preparing and looking ahead to tomorrow.”And Democratic strategists argue that it’s possible to use the town-hall format to their advantage, challenging Romney to provide policy specifics on what deductions would be eliminated from his tax plan or which government programs would be cut in his budget.“You have to do it a little more delicately, but it’s almost more appropriate when you’re surrounded by voters to turn and say, look, they deserve to know what you’re going to do on these things and why you are hiding from the American people,” said Thornell.Devine, a veteran of the Gore and Kerry campaigns, also says that while many assume the pressure is on Obama on Tuesday night, Romney could also be facing a make-or-break moment.“If [Romney] falls short, he runs a risk of backsliding really quickly,” Devine. “Romney’s problem, if he doesn’t do really well, is that voters are going to go back to what they already believe, and the polls show that even now, the president leads not just where he needs to, but on the whole range of leadership issues.”But another disastrous performance could put the proverbial nail in the president’s reelection coffin. Romney’s win in the first debate was the largest in the history of the Gallup poll, and the president has seen his leads in crucial swing states like Virginia, Florida and Colorado evaporate.“Obama doesn’t talk to people, he certainly doesn’t get hard questions from real people regularly, and so pulling out a Clinton ‘I feel your pain’ thing — it’s just an impossible standard,” said Mackowiak. “Democrats just have unrealistic expectations of what is possible for Obama in this one.” Source: 
 
 http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/262147-obama-and-romney-look-to-channel-clinton-in-next-debate The Hill Archives: Senate | House | Administration | Campaign | Business & Lobbying | Capital Living | Opinion View News by Subject: 
 
 Defense & Homeland Security | Energy & Environment | Healthcare | Finance & Economy | Technology | Foreign Policy | Labor | Transportation & Infrastructure ||||| The Obama campaign fervently hopes that the president will make a similar impression when he takes the debate stage Tuesday. Supporters and advisers see an opportunity in the town-hall format for him to connect directly with his questioners. 
 
 In the first debate, in Denver, Obama appeared sluggish and gave rambling responses. The performance surprised supporters and critics alike. Now, Americans are looking to see whether he can do better. Supporters who have met him are especially puzzled. 
 
 “When I turned off my television, I started crying,” said Paulette Camp, who owns a country store with her husband in western North Carolina and met Obama backstage in Columbus. “I thought, ‘Oh, my God — we just lost this election.’ I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know who that person was.” 
 
 She was among the winners of one of the Obama campaign contests, which include “Dinner with Barack,” “Backstage with Barack,” “NYC with Barack, Jay-Z and Beyonce.” 
 
 Obama’s contests encourage supporters to give money and share valuable information about themselves with the campaign. They offer camera-ready portraits of a campaign in which even a volunteer has a chance to meet the president. 
 
 Perhaps most important, though, the contests can showcase Obama’s ability connect with ordinary Americans on their terms, something he did not do well in Denver. 
 
 “We heard you just graduated!” Obama said to Grace Litano of Miami when she met him at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. “We definitely need more public health officials, so what you’re doing is awesome.” 
 
 Litano is a single mom, a native of Peru and a hospital case manager who recently completed her master’s degree in public health. She won a contest to attend the convention and meet the president by donating $10 to the campaign. Standing in line at Obama’s hotel near Charlotte with other contest winners, Litano knew that Obama had studied her biography and that this is what politicians do, but she was impressed anyway. 
 
 “He’s so easygoing, you just forget that he’s president,” Litano said, recalling that Obama told jokes but also asked after her 6-year-old daughter, Katelyn, and talked about his support for the Dream Act. 
 
 The story is similar for other winners who have spent five, seven, 11 minutes with the president. Granted, they are all donors and volunteers who will vote for Obama, but they were downright giddy, and surprised at how down-to-earth they found him to be. 
 
 “We all had similar stories to tell,” recalled David Garcia, a music professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who won a “Dinner with Barack” contest and dined with his wife, two other couples and the Obamas in Washington last week. The president had a cheeseburger, and the first lady shared her fries with the table, Garcia said. 
 
 “They were talking about their daughters,” Garcia recalled. “It was real and it was genuine.” 
 
 Obama has held 17 such contests since last October, giving more than 70 supporters from across the country the chance to have dinner, attend a Los Angeles fundraiser with George Clooney or watch the president shoot hoops in New York with basketball stars. 
 
 The connections made in these settings may be explained by the fact that these are people who are already supporters. And it also may be that the winners are chosen for their helpfulness to the campaign. Most are from swing states. More than a few are teachers. Others are students, small-business owners or government workers whose stories resonate with the president’s message. Inevitably, they all have a lot to talk about. 
 
 “He asked us everything about our lives — where went to school, where we lived, our neighbors, our businesses, our customers,” recalled Camp, the store owner from North Carolina. “He was so interested in our lives, like when you just meet someone where you just clicked. He’s really good with people, and this town hall will be people. So I think that part of him is going to really shine.” ||||| Mitt Romney and President Obama at their Oct. 3 debate in Denver. Tuesday's rematch will be a town-hall-style debate, in which each candidate must engage the other without ignoring the studio audience or treating people as mere props. (Zhang Jun, New China News Agency / ) ||||| Mitt Romney's team worries that the media is too eager for an Obama comeback. Mitt camp: Media wants Obama rise 
 
 BOSTON — Aides to Mitt Romney and Republican strategists fret that no matter how well Romney does in Tuesday’s town hall debate, the media will inevitably award victory to President Barack Obama. 
 
 Everyone loves a comeback, and just as pundits and reporters found one after the first debate in Denver in the GOP nominee’s strong performance, Romney and GOP operatives argue that the same will hold true of the president following Tuesday’s second round on Long Island. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 ( Also on POLITICO: Inside the campaign: How Mitt preps) 
 
 A senior Romney adviser predicted that “It’s going to be very hard to find observers to say [Obama] was just as bad as he was in the first debate…. the last debate sort of lowered a lot of expectations in the minds of many observers.” 
 
 “Perhaps Romney’s biggest challenge will be overcoming a Gang of 500 who would love nothing more than reporting ‘Obama wins round by KO’ lede,’” concurred Brad Dayspring, a GOP strategist and adviser to the YG Action Fund. “Obama the comeback kid is a very appealing story line.” 
 
 It’s unlikely that either candidate will make a major mistake on substance at this point — so managing optics and expectations become as important as policy details in preparing for the debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Lowering expectations after Romney’s strong debate performance in Denver— and Obama’s lackluster one — is vital for the GOP. 
 
 Romney’s backers, for instance, will tell you that their guy likely can’t hold a candle to the congenial Obama in a “town hall” format. But while the former Republican governor has certainly had a connectivity issue with voters, he has ample experience is town hall settings — and has often shown a warmer, engaging side. In the 2008 presidential campaign, he held many public “Ask Mitt Anything” forums around the country, taking a broad range of questions from voters and answering them often with humor and apparent candor. 
 
 Romney has also held a number of town hall meetings during the 2012 primary season — with mostly good results and a few missteps. (During one conversation with voters in New Hampshire he uttered the now famous line: “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.”) 
 
 ( Also on POLITICO: Full coverage on the presidential debates) 
 
 “I honestly think this is a good format for Mitt,” said GOP strategist Alex Castellanos, who worked Romney’s 2008 campaign. “People forget how many he has done. He’s very comfortable when he’s just having a conversation. This will not be new for him.” 
 
 Romney adviser Kevin Madden says it is “an opportunity to address a particular voter and his or her personal anxieties in a way for the entire country to see”. 
 
 “I won’t get into demeanor, but we’re certainly cognizant that this a good format for the president, that he will be personally confident. But ultimately, this campaign is not about eharmony.com. It’s about monster.com,” Madden said, referring the employment website. “It’s about the most qualified person for the job.”
– It's Round 2 for President Obama and Mitt Romney tonight. Romney is riding high from his trouncing of Obama in the Denver debate, but pundits say neither candidate is a natural at the town hall format, making tonight's debate at Long Island's Hofstra University a potential challenge. Here's what people are saying: Political consultants from both sides expect the rivals to attempt to channel Bill Clinton's masterful '92 town hall performance, the Hill reports. "Bill Clinton understood the choreography," physically approaching each questioner, one Democratic strategist said. "He came across better because of the human connection." Obama supporters think he could connect like that, even if he didn't last time out. "He was so interested in our lives," a woman who met him at an Ohio rally tells the Washington Post. "He’s really good with people." Romney, meanwhile, has experience in the format thanks to his Ask Mitt Anything forums, Politico observes. But his campaign is trying to downplay expectations, predicting an Obama-as-comeback-kid media narrative. The debate will be decided largely based on body language and nonverbal communication, the Los Angeles Times predicts. Undecided voters have heard both candidates' policies "and none of that has persuaded them to commit," a political communications expert says. "These individuals focus more on intangibles." Another hot topic: How active will Candy Crowley be? The campaigns want the moderator to keep quiet, but Crowley won't be cowed. "I’m not a fly on the wall," she tells Politico. "We don’t want the candidates to spout talking points. … I’m going to react organically to what’s happening."