The kickoff presidential debate Wednesday in Denver is shaping up as do-or-die time for Mitt Romney, with the pressure intensifying this week after a flurry of swing-state polls showed President Barack Obama opening up a sizable lead.
Republicans, fretting about dwindling days for Romney to turn around his campaign, fear that if their nominee doesn't come away with a decisive first-debate victory, he'll continue to spiral downward and lose his last, best shot for a comeback.
Continue Reading The fear among donors and strategists: a break-even or so-so performance would subject Romney to a self-reinforcing cycle of criticism and pessimism in his own party that will send other Republicans fleeing and make it difficult for Romney to project a closing argument against Obama over the drumbeat of why-are-you-losing questions.
So the Mile-High face-off has gone from merely important to critical for a challenger in need of a break.
"It went from being important to being life-sustaining," said GOP pollster Steve Lombardo, who worked for Romney in 2008. "Both from a fundraising perspective, to keep the money coming, and just a political perspective it's huge. Romney can't just do well and hold his own — he has to win and win decisively. If he's at parity with the president, I don't think that's enough."
Asked if it was time to sound the alarm over the listing Romney campaign, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said in an interview that it depends on Denver.
"I believe that we won't know until after the first debate," Gingrich explained.
But as with any campaign that's trying to find traction, Romney is getting competing doses of advice from Republicans about just how he can emerge triumphant next week and win some momentum before the last two debates.
Some in the party are prescribing a forward-leaning assault on Obama's record.
"As my wife put it to me the other day, if he is assertive and direct with Obama as he was to me in the two Florida debates, he'll be fine," Gingrich said, recalling the primary face-offs in which Romney unleashed a torrent of opposition research upon his rival. "And I think that's a good way to think of it. He's got to go in there and not be hostile, but be assertive, clear and direct and not back off."
Suggested Gingrich: "He's got to draw a sharp contrast between a Romney recovery and Obama stagnation. He's got to say, 'With all respect, Mr. President, this is the worst recovery since the Great Depression.'"
But other Republicans, eyeing the remaining swing voters who still retain some warm feelings for Obama, are counseling a Romney return to the more-in-sorrow-than-anger appeal he used against the president for much of this year.
"What Romney has got to do is follow through on the tone that he has set in the campaign, which is: 'Look, the president gave it his best shot, you gave him the benefit of the doubt, now let's turn the page," said Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), a member of the House GOP leadership who represents a suburban Chicago district.
