Great expectations
Posted: Thursday, October 02, 2008 4:21 PM by Carrie Dann
From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
IN THE AIR BETWEEN WILMINGTON AND ST. LOUIS -- In a late bid to set expectations heading into tonight's vice presidential debate,
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe repeatedly called
Sarah Palin a formidable foe, at one point calling her "one of the best debaters in American politics."
But the reporters flying to St. Louis with the candidate weren't exactly buying it.
"No, she is," Plouffe stressed as a few reporters chuckled at the superlative. "[In] her 2006 debate, she knew where she wanted to take every question, and so I think she'll be relentlessly on message tonight."
Plouffe also predicted that that the Alaska governor would offer a few "biting and witty one-liners" that may be "scored well by the press," but thought viewers at home would be more concerned with hearing the candidates talk about their respective ticket's vision for the country.
"Our focus is on the person sitting at home in Canton, Ohio, tonight, [in] Akron, Ohio, tonight, who's struggling economically," he said. "Who is delivering a message about the agenda that's going to most positively impact their lives and deliver the kind of change the country's so desperate for?"
Republicans today tried to play up Biden's reputation for being gaffe-prone, releasing a greatest-hits Web ad documenting some recent and no-so-recent examples. Plouffe, calling Biden a "plain-spoken person," said that the real gaffes that matter are "what George Bush has done to the American people, and what John McCain wants to continue."
Looking beyond the debate, Plouffe said that the campaign has been showing successes of late by showing a consistency of message that he said seems to be lacking on the Republican side.
"There's been an erraticness in the last 10 days that I think has puzzled voters," he said.
He highlighted gains in states like Florida, one he said Republicans hadn't really expected to be a battleground at this point.
"We like to play offense. That's a state where we're playing a lot of offense," he said. "I think you would have assumed that states like Ohio, and Iowa, New Mexico, the Bush states would be more competitive."
