Obama faces expectations problem as voters overwhelmingly think he will defeat Romney in big Denver debate clash

More than half of American voters think Barack Obama will outsmart Mitt Romney in the first presidential debate, to be held in Denver on Wednesday, setting up an expectations problem for the incumbent.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that voters, by a 56-29 percent margin, expect Obama to 'win' the debates. More than 63 per cent believe he will secure re-election on November 6th.
The two candidates have largely withdrawn from the campaign trail in preparation for their first head-to-head meeting on stage. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio is playing Obama in Romney debate sessions while Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts is acting the part of Romney for Obama.

Expectations problem: President Barack Obama, left, uses a cell phone to call supporters during a visit to a local campaign office

Obama is spending three days of debate preparation at the Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort, a luxurious golf community a few miles from the Las Vegas strip. 
The White House pool report described Obama's hotel as having 'a Middle Eastern theme and a view of the lake from the lobby' and the resort as ' is a strange mix of desert sand pits, green lawns, palm trees and new homes' complete with a golf course.
It will be the first of three debates between the two men and almost certainly the most important. 
Romney remains narrowly but consistently behind in national polls and is slipping further in crucial swing state polls. He needs a big night to change the trajectory of the race.
Both campaigns have been furiously trying to play down the hopes of their nominee. 'The man has been on the national stage for many years,' Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan said of Obama on Fox News Sunday. 
'He's an experienced debater, he's done these kinds of debates before. This is Mitt's first time on this kind of a stage.'
Last week, Beth Myers, a senior Romney aide, released a memo calling Obama 'a uniquely gifted speaker... widely regarded as one of the most talented political communicators in modern history'.
For their part, the Obama campaign has been unusually complimentary about Romney.

Pressure mounts: A worker on stage helps put up a sign that depicts a bald eagle with the words, 'The Union and the Constitution Forever', as preparation continues for the 2012 presidential debate in Magness Arena, at the University of Denver

Jen Psaki, Obama's travelling press secretary, warned that  Obama 'has a tendency to give longer substantive answers', which could be problematic. 'That's something clearly we're working on.'
Robert Gibbs, another senior adviser, said recently: 'Mitt Romney I think has an advantage, because he’s been through 20 of these debates in the primaries over the last year. He even bragged that he was declared the winner in 16 of those debates.'
Obama's team, however, has been studying years of footage  going back to the Romney's 1994 debates with Senator Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts.
Romney has spent at least eight days over the past month getting ready for the three debates against Obama, beginning intense sessions almost a month ago at an aide's home in Vermont. 
He has also held long sessions in Los Angeles, his Boston headquarters and the Back Bay Events Centre, where the auditorium holds 1,100 people.

Republican presidential nominee and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney talks to U.S Senator Rob Portman (R) on his campaign plane enroute to Denver

In some respects, each candidate has the same objective - to force his opponent to defend their record or proposals, to avoid looking defensive and to provoke the other man to come across as tetchy or condescending.
'The challenge that I'll have in the debate is that the president tends to, how shall I say it, to say things that aren't true,' Romney told ABC recently. 
'I've looked at prior debates. And in that kind of case, it's difficult to say, 'Well, am I going to spend my time correcting things that aren't quite accurate? Or am I going to spend my time talking about the things I want to talk about?'"

ROMNEY'S OBAMA MIMIC

Mitt Romney has been preparing for his first live TV debate by practising against a Barack Obama mimic as the latest national polls put the president’s lead at only 2 per cent.
Despite that reduced margin, Mr Obama is still leading by 11 per cent in swing states, so tomorrow’s showdown in Denver is becoming critical for his Republican challenger.
Sixty million viewers are expected to tune in for the 90-minute debate – the first direct encounter between the men.
Both have broken off campaigning to prepare. Rob Portman, an Ohio senator with a talent for impersonation, has been playing Mr Obama for weeks to try to help his fellow Republican.
Campaign staff say the 56-year-old approaches the exercise like a method actor, imitating the president’s voice, mannerisms and cadence.
One aide said: ‘He became Barack Obama. Physical mannerisms, parsing of his voice, everything.’

Romney, like Obama, can appear thin-skinned at times. Portman is said to have made a number of personal jibes in preparation so that Romney can practice not getting riled.
The Republican nominee  took part in 19 primary debates during 2011 and 2012, spending more than 30 hours of time on stage with up to seven other candidates at a time. But he has not done a one-to-one debate, as Obama did three times in 2008 against Senator John McCain, for many years.
Romney has spent time watching video of Obama debating Democratic primary rival Hillary Clinton in 2008, including his sniffy retort to his opponent: 'You're likeable enough, Hillary.' Romney aides will be hoping for another such moment from Obama.
Obama will be hoping Romney gets angry, as he did with Governor Rick Perry during a primary debate in Las Vegas after Perry accused him of hiring illegal immigrants.
'Rick,' Romney interjected. 'I'm speaking. I'm speaking. I'm speaking. I'm speaking," Romney said, visibly agitated and at one point reaching over to put his hand on Perry's shoulder. 'You get 30 seconds. This is the way - the way the rules work here is that I get 60 seconds, and then you get 30 seconds to respond, right?.
Romney added: 'Would you please - would you please wait? Are you just going to keep talking? Or are you going to let me finish with my - what I had to say?'
In another later debate, when Perry challenged Romney on health care, Romney fulled the caricature of his being wealthy and out of touch by saying: 'Rick, I'll tell you what, 10,000 bucks? $10,000 bet?'