WASHINGTON—Finally, the fall season offers the matchup sure to attract the biggest audience of the campaign: President Barack Obama goes one-on-one with Republican rival Mitt Romney in three prime-time debates.
Typically the top political draw in the final sprint to Election Day, the debates assume outsized importance this year with the race a dead heat. The two polished candidates will have their sound bites and rhetoric down cold so any slip or inadvertent move—like President George H.W. Bush's exasperated glance at his watch or Democrat Al Gore's repeated sighing—could roil the campaign for days and linger in voters' mind until Nov. 6.
No wonder Romney spent days this past week holed up at the Vermont estate of former Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey for debate practice sessions with Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who played the role of Obama. The president, for his part, has had one practice session with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democrats' stand-in for Romney, and is certain to have several more before the first debate Oct. 3 in Denver.
The second debate, a town hall-style session, is Oct. 16 in Hempstead, N.Y. The final debate, on foreign policy, is Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla. GOP running mate Paul Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden have one debate, Oct. 11 in Danville, Ky.
Incumbents usually are at a disadvantage, defending a record against a challenger critiquing four years of work. Obama will be trying to avoid the fate
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