Obama, Romney Send Top Surrogates Out to Campaign - East Idaho News
News

Obama, Romney Send Top Surrogates Out to Campaign

  Published at

Getty 100212 MichelleObamaAnnRomneySplit?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1349213007750Larry Marano/WireImage/Kayana Szymczak/Getty Images(DENVER) — As the candidates get ready to face off Wednesday night in the first presidential debate, President Obama and Mitt Romney are getting in some last-minute prep Tuesday while their wives and running mates pick up the slack on the campaign trail.

Ann Romney speaks at a campaign event in Littleton, Colo., while first lady Michelle Obama addresses supporters in Cincinnati and Seattle.  Vice President Joe Biden is speaking at two events in North Carolina, while Paul Ryan is making his way across Iowa with his family on a bus.

Both Obama and Romney are camping out in key battleground states, Obama at his Henderson, Nev., retreat, and Romney in Denver, the site of Wednesday’s debate.

“I look forward to these debates,” Romney said at a Denver rally Monday. “It’ll be conversation with the American people that will span almost an entire month.”

While the campaigns have been somewhat tight-lipped about the details of their debate rehearsals — it is known, though, that Sen. John Kerry is standing in for Mitt Romney, and Sen. Rob Portman is standing in for Obama in the practice sessions — both sides have been busy managing expectations.

“I know folks in the media are speculating already on who’s going to have the best zingers,” the president told supporters in Nevada. “Gov. Romney, he’s a good debater. I’m just OK.”

The Obama camp regularly points out how out of practice the president  is — he hasn’t been on the debate stage since 2008, while the Romney campaign emphasizes that Wednesday’s face-off is its candidate’s first one-on-one debate with a president.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

SUBMIT A CORRECTION