By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Still
neck-and-neck after all these months, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney head
into their third and final debate with each man eager to project an aura
of personal strength and leadership while raising doubts about the
steadiness and foreign policy credentials of the other guy.
Each is aiming for a
commanding performance Monday to settle the seesaw dynamics of the first
two debates: Romney gave Obama an old-fashioned shellacking in the
first round, and the chastened president rebounded in their second
encounter.
The 90-minute faceoff at
Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., offers the candidates their last
opportunity to stand one-on-one before tens of millions of Americans and
command their undivided attention before next month's election. Both
candidates largely dropped out of sight and devoted their weekends to
debate preparations, a sure sign of the high importance they attach to
the event.
While the principals warm
up for their evening debate in the battleground state of Florida, their
running mates will be busy Monday seeking votes in two of the eight
other states whose up-for-grabs electoral votes will determine the next
president - Vice President Joe Biden in Ohio and Republican Rep. Paul
Ryan in Colorado. Also still hotly contested: Iowa, New Hampshire,
Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Virginia.
Deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said Monday that "it really now comes down to that small segment of undecided voters."
Appearing on NBC's "Today"
show, Cutter said, "The ground game is in credibly important at this
point. We feel pretty good about where we are."
It fell to campaign
surrogates on Sunday talk shows to frame the foreign policy matters that
moderator Bob Schieffer will put before the candidates in a discussion
sure to reflect "how dangerous the world is in which we live," as the
CBS newsman put it. Iran's nuclear intentions, the bloody crackdown in
Syria, economic angst in Europe, security concerns in Afghanistan,
China's growing power - all that and more are on the agenda.
On Iran, senior Romney
campaign foreign policy adviser Dan Senor said on NBC Monday that
Romney's approach is that "we've got to reach a diplomatic solution." He
said the Obama administration's policy on Iran for the past four years
has not discouraged Tehran from moving forward with its nuclear
ambitions.
On Libya, Senor said "they
didn't have the proper security" at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi where
Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others were killed on Sept.
11.
The series of interviews
Sunday and Monday fed into the broader debate over which candidate
offers the steady hand and sound judgment for a nation facing myriad
challenges at home and abroad.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio,
arguing for the Republicans, faulted Obama for "his failure to outline
broad goals, real goals, a real view of what America's role in the world
should be." Romney, by contrast, would "use America's role in the world
as a catalyst for peace, prosperity and freedom," he said.
Ryan, campaigning in
Colorado Springs, Colo., on Sunday, faulted the president for potential
defense cuts and said that when adversaries "see us projecting weakness,
when they see us hollowing out our military ... they think we are a
superpower in decline." It was a likely preview of one of Romney's
arguments in the debate.
Obama adviser David Axelrod
said that when the president took office "we were isolated in our
position on Iran and in the world. And today, the world is unified
against Iran with us, all because of the leadership of this president."
The Obama campaign released
a blistering memo from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John
Kerry, D-Mass., accusing Romney of offering nothing but "endless
bluster" on international issues.
"He is an extreme and
expedient candidate who lacks the judgment and vision so vital for the
Oval Office," said Kerry, who is considered a leading candidate to
succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state if Obama wins a
second term.
When it comes to their
foreign policy credentials, both candidates have reasons for optimism
and concern: While foreign policy has been a strength of Obama
throughout the campaign, some recent polls show his advantage narrowing.
The Pew Research Center's October poll, for example, found that 47
percent of Americans favored Obama to make "wise decisions about foreign
policy," while 43 percent preferred Romney.
American University
professor Jordan Tama said the difficult trick for Romney in the debate
will be to challenge Obama on foreign policy without looking like he's
criticizing the commander in chief, which can be off-putting to voters.
Obama, for his part, must make the case that his policies are sound and
his leadership strong despite ongoing challenges around the world,
including unrest in the Middle East and the chaotic situation in Libya
that left four Americans dead.
While foreign policy has
been overshadowed during this campaign by concerns about the domestic
economy and jobs at home, everything matters in a race this tight. A
Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Sunday showed each candidate
favored by 47 percent of likely voters, reflecting a boost of support
for Romney following his strong performance in the first debate in early
October.
With early voting under way
in many states, there is precious little time for the candidates to
break loose. More than 4 million Americans already have voted.
___
Associated Press writer Julie Pace contributed to this report.
___
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2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
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