Oct 15, 2008 7:19 pm US/Eastern
Under Pressure: Many Votes Riding On Final Debate
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (CBS) ―
The economy will take center stage at Wednesday night's final presidential debate. With Sen. Barack Obama heading into the showdown with a double-digit lead in the polls, it may be Sen. John McCain's last chance to turn his campaign around.
Of course that means there's a lot riding on the debate. McCain needs a game changer and Obama needs to stay on his game. The tension was already in the air at Hofstra University, where they'll get one last chance to look each other in the eye.
McCain and his wife Cindy left a Manhattan hotel to make their way to the Hofstra campus Wednesday afternoon. Obama landed at LaGuardia Airport and both nominees will do their last minute preparations on the Hempstead campus. It's a domestic policy debate and people will be looking for answers about the economy.
"Citizens are so concerned. They need to know the specifics, the particulars of these new plans both of them have released. They owe it to the citizens to explain that," said Rosanna Perotti, Professor of Political Science at Hofstra.
Both have been more than willing to discuss their economic plans. McCain, who is down in the polls, is promising tax breaks and bigger write-offs for people who lost money on investments.
"Senator Obama is going to raise your taxes and in this economy, raising taxes is the surest way to turn a recession into a depression," McCain said recently.
Obama does want to raise taxes – on people who make more than $250,000 a year. His plan to redistribute the wealth would provide tax cuts to those making $200,000 or less. He also wants to allow people to temporarily take money from retirement accounts without penalty.
"Those are issues that await action in Congress, and if we don't get it done in the lame duck Congress, they're going to be some of my priorities when I'm president," Obama said.
The latest CBS News/New York Times poll has Obama up by 14 points. The Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has Obama up by 9 points among likely voters.
But with nearly three weeks to go before Election Day, anything could still happen and so Wednesday night the pressure is still on both men.
"These two men have to convey that they are in command. They're presidential, they have to be able to reassure voters that they are going to guide voters out of the crisis," said Perotti.
Pundits also say that the debate will be about appealing to independent voters who are volatile and can change their minds up until they get into the voting booth.
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