Here come the presidential debates

This morning on CBC, Paul Brandus and I looked ahead to the presidential debates. The first debate between Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama will be Wednesday night in Denver. With Obama leading in the national and swing state polls, the debates may represent Romney’s best chance to change the dynamic of this race -- to shift the focus away from his "47%"comment and to his ideas for improving the economy. The theme will be domestic policy and the economy, and Romney will likely be pressed to address nagging questions about how he would deliver on his promised tax cuts without aggravating the already enormous federal deficit. As I wrote in the recent issue of Maclean’s, anything short of a clear win by Romney is effectively a win for Obama, since it would maintain the status quo as Election Day draws near and early voting is already under way.