Political Debate | featured news

David Gergen says President Obama needs a big debate victory to claim broad support for his second-term plans... Moreover, a big Obama victory would keep the Senate safely in Democratic hands and -- less likely -- might put a few House seats in play.

When President Obama steps onto the debate stage Wednesday night in Denver, he'll seek to avoid what might be called "incumbents opening debate syndrome." Presidents seeking re-election have often struggled in their first debates: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. Two of those wound up winning re-election anyway; two lost.

As far as one researcher is concerned, the fate of presidential candidates is in the eyes -- namely, how many times they blink during debates. Joseph Tecce, a Boston College psychophysiologist who studies political body language, reports that the candidate who blinks the most during debates has lost every election but one since 1980 -- and the exception is George W. Bush, the year he lost the popular vote.

Barack Obama is cruising into the presidential debates with momentum on his side, yet he's still struggling to revive the passion and excitement that propelled him to the White House. Mitt Romney is grasping for his last, best chance to reboot his campaign after a disastrous September.

With just 46 days to go, the presidential race has entered the hammer-and-tongs phase. From here on, it’s a day-to-day messaging war, with President Obama and challenger Mitt Romney taking dramatically different views on how the fall campaign conversation should be framed.

On long flights to swing states in the West and late nights at the White House after his children have gone to bed, President Barack Obama is cramming like a student for a test that could determine his political future.

With a little more than a month to go before the vice presidential debate, Congressman Paul Ryan will endure his first full day of debate preparations Sunday.

Paul Ryan is already preparing for debate night -- the oratory showdown with Vice President Joe Biden that just might be the one to watch. After his soaring Republican convention speech, Ryan has been bragging a bit that as a congressman he is well-primed for the occasion.

President Obama has found the perfect person to portray Mitt Romney in mock debates meant to prepare him for the real thing this fall. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., Obama's choice for the key behind-the-scenes role, has all the right stuff...

Two new polls in the showdown state of Michigan suggest that Rick Santorum failed to gain a badly needed shot of momentum in Wednesday night's Republican presidential debate.