While both presidential candidates prepare for Tuesday's town hall-style debate, campaign surrogates took to the Sunday talk shows in the hope of setting expectations for the second matchup between President Obama and Mitt Romney.
After a disappointing debate performance in the first round, the Obama campaign is looking for the president to step up in this week's matchup. Robert Gibbs, an Obama senior adviser, said on Sunday that the president "didn't meet his expectations" and he now knows what he has to do.
"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," Gibbs said on CNN's State of the Union. "I think you'll see somebody who's passionate about the choice that our country faces and putting that choice in front of voters."
Atlanta's Democratic Mayor, Kasim Reed, said the president has to "step up" and that the next debate will be a challenge.
"I think of the first Mohammad Ali fight in 1971," he said on NBC's Meet the Press. "People thought he would beat Joe Frasier. He got hit in the jaw in the 15th. But he went on to win the second and the third. History remembers the winners."
But the Romney campaign was quick say that a better performance by Obama will not have a large impact on the race, seeing the momentum on their side.
