A political science expert maintains Mitt Romney needs to come out swinging during the first presidential debate Wednesday night.
President Barack Obama and Governor Romney are making final preparations for their first formal debate tomorrow evening. The debate will focus on domestic policy, including topics such as the economy, healthcare, the role of government, and governing.
Dr. Paul Rahe, professor of history and political science at Hillsdale College in Michigan, offers some pre-debate advice for the GOP presidential candidate.
"What [Romney is] asking people to do is roll the dice - and people are reluctant to roll the dice. They have a tendency to stick with what they know," observes the educator. "So I'm not surprised at all that the polls show Barack Obama marginally ahead.
"But what's even more important, however, is that the polls show [voters] don't like the direction in which the country is going," Rahe continues. "And so what Romney has to do is show people that he can lead the country in a different direction in which people will go off food stamps and get jobs."
In his recent blog, Rahe compares Romney to Ronald Reagan's campaign in 1980, when Reagan ultimately won by a landslide when he appeared not to be in contention. Romney, he says, should take a simple approach.
"All he has to do is shift some people," Rahe suggests. "And given the state of the economy, given the size of the deficit, given the disaster in the Middle East, it should not be that hard for him to present himself as a plausible alternative to the man who's gotten us into the mess that we're in."
Jim Lehrer, host of the NewsHour on PBS, will moderate the live debate held at the University of Denver in Colorado. The next election debate (Thursday, October 11) will feature the two vice-presidential candidates going head-to-head.