Suzanne Tweeting From South Africa; Obama And Romney Prep For Round Two (second presidential debate tomorrow night); Obama And Romney In Dead Heat; Hollywood Debate Tips
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: -- pretty amazing pieces on the country. But she's a bit of a twitterer and she's been tweeting about some of her experiences already. I will tell you a couple of them. She writes, "I visited Soweto today where a woman who was a student protester in 1976 was shot four times, now gives tours to heal. And this one as well, "Interviewed Nelson Mandela's son-in-law, Amuah, who says their relationship was mixed, loving, and tense." Look for Suzanne's report right here next week, beginning at noon Eastern. Until then, as I say, you're stuck with me. All right. Let's go now to Ashleigh Banfield.</s>ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Michael Holmes, and now you're stuck with me. I'm Ashleigh Banfield in for Suzanne Malveaux this hour. And we are covering on the CNN NEWSROOM, a focus of politics. A focus on theology, technology, the economy right here at home. Let's get right to it, shall we? We are just one day away from the second showdown between President Obama and Mitt Romney. They are going to face off tomorrow in one of those town hall style debate rooms and the pressure is really on for the president after what many have said was a lackluster showing in round one. All of this coming just 22 days until election day, so the stakes are high. Not just for both campaigns, but for you, my friend. President Obama has been prepping for debate at a resort in Williamsburg, Virginia. Mitt Romney is at his home state, he's in the Boston area getting ready for tomorrow night. And we've got a debate preview coming up in just a minute. We're also going to hear from our political team this hour. Paul Steinhauser has the latest on the poll numbers in this neck in neck race. Wolf Blitzer weighing in on the state of the race as of today. Joe Johns explaining why Ohio is so important and why things might be changing there. Tomorrow night's debate takes place at Hofstra University on New York's Long Island. It is the second of three debates, and as we mentioned, it's that town hall style format. The candidates get to take questions from the audience, and the topics both domestic and foreign policy this time around. But what about that audience? They're going to be made up of undecided voters, and they were chosen by a specific group, the Gallop organization. So, our Athena Jones has a preview now of just what is at stake for both of these candidates when they get there.</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Round two. President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney face off in their second debate Tuesday. A town hall moderated by CNN's Candy Crowley who says the format presents unique challenge for the candidates.</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The challenges that they've got to connect not just with the people that are looking into the television and watching them but to the people that are on the stage with them, some 80 or so undecided voters as chosen by Gallop, so they have to keep those folks in mind. It's a much more intimate and up close adventure with voters.</s>JONES: President Obama is under pressure after his last turn on the debate stage got bad reviews.</s>ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: One bad debate is losing a battle. Two bad debates could very well mean he loses the war.</s>MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: And I think you're going to see a very different President Obama this time around. He's got to be seen as being aggressive, but, yet, he can't be seen as being overly aggressive.</s>JONES: Romney has enjoyed a post-debate bounce in national polls and a boost of confidence on the campaign trail.</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's more energy and passion. People are getting behind this campaign.</s>JONES: At a town hall, without a podium and with audience interaction, the candidates' style and body language can take on added weight. At the first town hall presidential debate in 1992, President George H. W. Bush repeatedly checked his watch, a sign some thought that he didn't want to be there. Commentators said Bill Clinton walking toward the audience to answer a question about the recession highlighted his ability to connect with voters. One thing that can make it hard for a candidate to be aggressive is a question like this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we focus on the issues and not the personalities and the mud?</s>JONES: Analysts say this format could be good for the president.</s>CARDONA: He will be able to draw from that energy -- from the energy of the public and the crowd.</s>JONES: As for Romney, --</s>NAVARRO: One of his big challenges during this entire campaign has been not being able to connect with the common man and woman and child. He has to be able to come across as connecting. He has to come across as genuine, as caring, as likable.</s>CROWLEY: The candidate that makes a connection with the person asking the question is also I think making a better connection with the folks back home.</s>JONES: The stakes couldn't be higher. Athena Jones, CNN, Washington.</s>BANFIELD: And while Mitt Romney is prepping for debate number two, Paul Ryan, his running mate, is out stumping on the campaign trail. And here he is live in Cincinnati, Ohio. In case you have forgotten, Ohio has 18 electoral votes. That's what's at stake in this state, and it's an important one. As we've said before, no Republican has won the White House without winning there so a quick stop at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio for Paul Ryan as he moves ahead from his vice presidential debate last week. So, what should we now expect from the president and from Mitt Romney tomorrow night as they head into debate number two? Earlier, I talked with our own Wolf Blitzer about what to look for in this debate and what each candidate needs to do.</s>BANFIELD: We always know that incumbents don't particularly perform well in the first debate. Is there a template for the second debate? Do we have some history to show us what they need to do, what they often do, and how that works out for them?</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know in the first debate when he was an incumbent, Ronald Reagan, back in 1984, being challenged by Walter Mondale, did not do well. He did much better in the second debate. He obviously went on to win re- election decisively in 1984. The challenge for President Obama this time, he didn't do well the first time, Romney did very well, will be for him to come back in this second debate, which is a town hall format, so it's a little bit more complicated because average people, undecided voters, at Hofstra University out on Long Island, they'll stand up and ask questions. So, it's -- the room is a little bit different. The atmosphere is a little bit different. We'll see if the president comes through this time and responds and answers the charges directly forcefully, passionately, which is something he didn't do to Romney on the first debate. The President has to show that he wants to be there, he's engaged, he's not bored. Some of those aspects apparently he failed on during the first presidential debate, and I think Mitt Romney's got to show that he can relate to these average folks as well which has been a problem occasionally for him in the course of all of these town hall meetings that he's done. But having said all that, both of these guys got to this level because they're good, they're smart, they're strong. They don't -- you don't get to be the president of the United States or the Republican presidential nominee unless you're really, really good. And they beat a lot of other opponents in the process so I'm looking forward to it tomorrow night. I think they're both going to be good.</s>BANFIELD: And that's our Wolf Blitzer for us, and on the day before the second debate, it's a dead heat in this race for the White House. Just what they like to say, all knotted up. And that's why they say team Obama and team Romney are sending out their surrogates to try to build some of that momentum for their candidates. You might call this actually predebate spin. Have a look.</s>ROBERT GIBBS, SENIOR ADVISER, OBAMA CAMPAIGN: He knew when he walked off that stage, and he also knew as he's watched the tape of that debate that he's got to be more energetic. I think you'll see somebody's who very passionate about the choice that our country faces and putting that choice in front of voters.</s>ED GILLESPIE, SENIOR ADVISOR, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN: The President can change his style, he can change his tactics, he can't change his record, and he can't change his policies, and that's what this election is about.</s>BANFIELD: CNN's political Editor Paul Steinhauser joins us live now from the debate site at Hofstra University. I think I saw a note from you about -- well, probably within the last 10 minutes, you've been doing a lot of path, and you have been taking in some of the newest polls and rejigging those poll of polls. So, this is great. You have some nice breaking news for me, the most updated poll of polls. What do the numbers say?</s>PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's check it out. This is the CNN poll of polls. Here you go, this is national likely voters, and there you go. This is pretty tight, Ashleigh, 48 percent of likely voters supporting Mitt Romney, 47 percent supporting the President. That's basically all tied up. But what is this poll of polls? There have been seven, seven surveys. After the first debate -- conducted entirely after the first debate live operator non- partisan. We averaged them all together and that's what you get, a very, very close contest. Now, Ashleigh, you know and I know the race for the White House is not a popular vote nationally, it is a battle for the states and their electoral votes. Take a look at this, this is also brand new. A new CNN poll of polls in one of those important swing states, Virginia. And there is the same story we saw nationally, it's close in the states, 48 percent for the President, 47 percent for Mitt Romney. You know, Ashleigh, it's fair to say the president had a slight advantage in the national and state polls in September, but things have definitely tightened up a little bit since that first debate. That's why so much is at stake tomorrow night right here behind me at Hofstra University.</s>BANFIELD: Well, I'm glad you mentioned that, because I wanted to ask you about the affect of the early voting because if people were early voting prior to debate number one, we know where the polls showed the leanings. They -- people led towards President Obama, and now if they did their early voting between debate one and debate two, it was in Mitt Romney's favor. Does that make this debate more critical, or does it just tell us people have already voted for two different candidates?</s>STEINHAUSER: Well, here's the thing about early voters, most of them -- well, obviously, they've made up their mind or they wouldn't be voting, right? And most of them are pretty firm believers on one side or the other. So, these debates really don't affect those early voters that much, but the key here for this debate and the final debate a week from today in Florida is for those undecided voters. Those people who haven't made up their minds yet, that's that three to four to five, maybe six or seven percent or even more of voters who still are undecided. That's what these debates are about -- Ashleigh.</s>BANFIELD: So, clearly, you're much better at math than I am. I think I remember you telling me a week or two ago that the early voting percentage of the entire vote, is it somewhere around 30 percent?</s>STEINHAUSER: Yes, it was just under a third four years ago. About a third of the people who did cast a ballot, cast a ballot before election day, and we think it's going to be kind of in the same ballpark this time around that by November 6th, about a third of all voters will have cast a ballot. We're still, as you mentioned, 22 days away from that, though -- Ashleigh.</s>BANFIELD: All right. So, since your memory is so good when I test you about things that happened four years ago, maybe you could help me out with the scheduling of the debates. Yes, here you go. On your toes, my friend. So, we got a debate today, or excuse me, we've got a debate tomorrow. And then, we have the third --</s>STEINHAUSER: Right.</s>BANFIELD: -- presidential debate before seven days. I mean, it's literally six days from debate two. And I just don't remember if the schedule was that tight last time around or if that makes a difference.</s>STEINHAUSER: Yes, they're usually every week. Every week we've had a debate now. You know, the first we had the presidential. Last week we had the vice presidential. Now, two more weeks with presidentials. Remember, that final debate, though, is going to be exclusively on foreign policy which makes it a little different than this debate, and the format will be different, too. A moderator at both debates but no town hall at the final debate. And then after that debate, Ashleigh, two weeks left until election day, and then I get to go home.</s>BANFIELD: Yes, and I think you get to take a year off because you put in that many extra days. All right, Paul Steinhauser, thank you very much.</s>STEINHAUSER: Thanks.</s>BANFIELD: Nice to see you live. And, by the way, another colleague of Paul's and mine, Candy Crowley, is going to moderate the presidential town hall debate live tomorrow night. Our very special coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN and CNN.com. And here's what we're working on for you this hour.</s>ARLEN SPECTER (D), FORMER SENATOR, PENNSYLVANIA: I was in the Senate for 30 years, practicing comedy.</s>BANFIELD: He is definitely going to be remembered as a huge presence in Washington. But Arlen Specter could also get a crowd rolling at the comedy club. We're going to explain that one for you in "LOOK AT A LEGEND." Also, if you want to win the White House, the conventional wisdom is you just got to win Ohio. Right now, that's where Mitt Romney is getting a bit of a surge. We'll talk about that and also, later on a leap of faith realized. You just don't get tired of seeing that, folks. It almost looks like Nintendo, but it's not. It's real. We're going to go faster than the speed of sound with Felix Baumgartner.