First 2012 US Presidential Debate
RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. More QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment. This is CNN and, on this network, it is the news that will always come first.</s>QUEST (voice-over): President Obama and his political challenger, Mitt Romney, are gearing up for their first debate ahead of the election. It'll be held tonight, Wednesday, at the University of Denver in Colorado. It is domestic issues that's the focus of the first debate. This will only be the fourth time the two men have actually met face to face. A Syrian opposition group says a series of car bombings has killed dozens of people in Aleppo on Wednesday. Activists say most of the casualties were government troops. State media blame what it calls terrorists for the violence. The apparent targets were a military officers' club and the Chamber of Commerce. NATO says it's greatly concerned over an attack on a Turkish border town. The town's mayor says at least five people were killed when a shell fired from Syria struck a house. Ten others were wounded. It's not clear what military force or group is responsible. Iranians are protesting outside the country's biggest bank as their country currency plunges. Demonstrators clashed with the riot police at a bazaar in central Tehran, where several exchange bureaus (ph) are located. Iran's currency has lost more than a third of its value in the past week or so. Nigerian troops are hunting for the people who carried out a massacre at a student dormitory near a university in the northeast on Tuesday. The attackers killed at least 25 people using guns and knives. Ethnic tensions related to a recent student election may provide some clues as to the motives for the attack.</s>QUEST: Barack Obama has only met Mitt Romney three times before. Tonight when they debate it'll be the fourth meeting. Our next guest knows just how good a debater he is. Shannon O'Brien ran unsuccessfully against Mitt Romney in the race to be governor of Massachusetts in 2002. Shannon O'Brien joins me now live from Boston. Wonderful to have you with us, to give us some insight. What would be -- well, first of all, have you been asked to give the president or anybody any tips on how to handle a Romney debate?</s>SHANNON O'BRIEN, FORMER MASSACHUSETTS STATE TREASURER: No, I haven't been asked to give any advice to the president. But I certainly have had a lot of experience. I had about five debates with Mitt Romney, several of them one-on-one. And I think I'm the last person who's had a one-on-one debate with Governor Romney almost 10 years ago.</s>QUEST: So -- and I love a debate. I was -- I did debating in college and so on. I know it's a different type of a debate rather than a this house believes type of debate. But when -- what is the sort of -- what's his stock in trade? What -- with Romney? What does he do?</s>O'BRIEN: Well, the most important thing for Mitt Romney -- and I think folks all around the world have seen some of his gaffes, whether it was when he went to the London Olympics or recently in the United States, where he made, you know, these off-the-cuff remarks about betting $10,000 with one of his Republican opponents. When Mitt Romney is sort of freeforming, he can make mistakes. And so this is the most important debate of the campaign. It's probably the most important point in the campaign as to whether or not he can come back and possibly beat President Obama. So he will leave nothing to chance. He's practicing and practicing. He will be well prepared for tonight.</s>QUEST: So what does Obama have to do and what did you do that got him to freeform, that got him off the script? Do you needle him? Do you attack him? Do you belittle him? What's the technique?</s>O'BRIEN: Well, in my first -- and I think in my situation was very different, Richard. I came across very aggressively in the first two debates, and ultimately I think that was not a good thing for me as a candidate. But what I think President Obama has to do to keep him, you know, off- kilter is to make sure that he continues to focus on the fact that it is President Obama who will support the middle class, will support the majority of Americans and who has the right plan. Mitt Romney has been all over issues. You know, they won't tell us what his tax plan is. That's a secret. He won't really come clean about whether or not he really will support tax deductions that are very important to the middle class. So I think that Obama can keep him off his feet by focusing on the different positions that Mitt Romney has taken over the course of this campaign and over the 10-15 years he's been running for office.</s>QUEST: I heard one comment about Mitt Romney from somebody who knew him well, talking about the London Olympics gaffe that he made. And actually, what this person said, is, no, that answer was classic Romney. Romney is a consultant from Bain Capital and therefore he will give an honest albeit unpolitic (sic) answer because that's the way he's built. He thinks like a consultant.</s>O'BRIEN: Yes, and the problem is he has made so many -- he has so many positions in his head that aren't really coming from his heart, that that's what makes it so hard for him to be genuine. It's why the numbers have shown in the polls that he's really not very popular with voters. And it's why in this difficult economy in the United States that President Obama is doing so well. Romney --</s>QUEST: Whoa, whoa, whoa --</s>O'BRIEN: -- because when he wants to tell the truth, he can't tell the truth. It's not popular.</s>QUEST: Finally, when all is said and done, no president -- I mean you know the statistics -- 8 percent unemployment; it's a very -- it's a serious uphill struggle. Surely, really all Mitt Romney has to do or one of the things he has to do with the president would find it very difficult to rebut is simply say, "You failed."</s>O'BRIEN: And the fact is President Obama has helped create -- he came into office during one of the most difficult times in our country's economic history. We have 5 million new jobs. The stock market is up. People are feeling more confident. We're not where we need to be. But he has made progress. And Romney would take us back to the policies that got us in this mess in the first place. That's ultimately where the president goes and ultimately I think the argument that's going to win the presidential election.</s>QUEST: Shannon, would you like one more chance to debate him, if you had the chance? Would you like a rematch against Romney?</s>O'BRIEN: I don't know if I'd like a rematch. But I just hope that President Obama, who I'm a Democrat; I hope President Obama does well tonight. But Romney's been practicing. He's going to be a tough opponent. This is going to be the debate of his life. I think all of America will be watching and it'll be exciting.</s>QUEST: (Inaudible) America watching, we'll all be watching. Thanks very much, Shannon O'Brien; joining me from the U.S. And of course, (inaudible), I mean, we make no bones about it. Shannon O'Brien was, of course, a Democrat and, well, she doesn't wish Mitt Romney personally ill, she wishes him political massacre tonight, I suspect, by President Obama, at least in the world of politics. CNN's your destination for full coverage of all the debates. We're live in Colorado for tonight's first head-to-head battle between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. It is a debate and stay with us and watch it live starting early Thursday at 1:00 in the morning -- 1:00 in the morning; we'll all be up late -- 4:00 am in Abu Dhabi, 8:00 pm in Hong Kong. If you miss that, then we'll be replayed, four replays throughout the times right here on your screen, and we'll probably need an abacus to work out what time it is where you are. In a moment, the breakfast revolution and the battle to ban the bland breakfast (inaudible). And not a moment before time.