[h=3]By JANET HOOK And DANNY YADRON[/h]DANVILLE, Ky.—Joe Biden and Paul Ryan arrived in Kentucky for a Thursday night debate that has potential to either accelerate or stall the momentum gathering behind Mitt Romney's come-from-behind presidential bid.
The debate, to be broadcast nationally at 9 p.m. ET from Centre College in Danville, is expected to be more combative than last week's faceoff between the Republican candidate and President Barack Obama, whose lackluster performance disappointed his supporters.
"Looking forward to it,'' Mr. Biden said of the debate as he left Delaware this morning, and sounded like a boxer climbing into a ring. "You ever see me do rope a dope?''
Mr. Ryan sounded more chummy in a television interview Thursday morning.
"I know him as Joe," Mr. Ryan said, noting that he has known Mr. Biden from their work in Congress where Mr. Ryan represents a Wisconsin congressional district and Mr. Biden had been a senator from Delaware. "Actually, we've gotten along quite well over the years. You know, I like Joe personally quite a bit. I just disagree with his policies."
Republicans have high hopes that Mr. Ryan can ably deliver a performance as aggressive as Mr. Romney's, which has apparently contributed to polling bumps nationally and in some swing states.
Democrats, meanwhile, are looking to Mr. Biden to step up the attack on the GOP ticket in the debate and improve on Mr. Obama's performance.
Rep. Xavier Beccera (D., Calif.), traveling to Kentucky to attend the debate and contribute to Democrats' post-debate 'spin,' said he expected Mr. Biden to "pick up the slack and go on the offensive."
"It's going to be mano a mano," Mr. Beccera said. "But both are going to talk more about the top of the ticket than each other."
Indeed, debates between vice-presidential candidates are usually something of a sideshow that rarely have a decisive impact on the outcome of a presidential election.
But in a race as close as this year's, in which the political momentum has shifted with dazzling frequency, both campaigns have prepared for this debate as if it were a Broadway opening, not summer stock.
Mr. Biden now will have two goals for the Democratic ticket: re-energize the Democratic base, which has been grumbling since last week's debate, and woo back independent voters, who have been giving Mr. Romney a second look, according to polls.
To that end, the vice president has been hunkered down in a Delaware hotel room with aides and family this week practicing attack lines on Mr. Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman.
He is expected to home in on Mr. Romney's remarks about the 47% of Americans the Republican said don't pay taxes and are dependent on the federal government.
Asked about Mr. Ryan's recent comment that he expected Mr. Biden to come at him "like a cannonball," Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said Thursday morning in a CBS interview, that Mr. Biden would "hold him to account for the positions that Gov. Romney has taken in this campaign, their collective records, their approach to issues."
"Harry Truman said I don't give them hell; I just tell it like it is, and they feel like they're in hell,'' Mr. Axelrod said. "So, you know, maybe Congressman Ryan's feeling the pressure of their own positions."
Mr. Ryan meantime has spent his prep sessions focusing on how to respond to such an attack and counter that the country can't afford another Obama-Biden administration. He has reviewed video of Mr. Biden's 2008 debate with GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, but Mr. Ryan said when asked in CNN interview that he hadn't called her for advice.
Republicans have spent the week talking up the vice president's debating skills and trying to lower expectations for Mr. Ryan. On Tuesday, Mr. Romney sought to lower the bar further, telling CNN, "This is, I think, Paul's first debate. I may be wrong. He may have done something in high school. I don't know."
Mr. Biden meantime will try to paint his opponent as "the face" of conservative budget principles, from a voucher-like Medicare program to severe spending cuts, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
On the campaign trail, Mr. Biden is known for his ability to show empathy for regular voters, a skill that will likely be on display Thursday. Still, his willingness to be spontaneous carries risk, and the vice president is known for going off the White House script.
Both vice-presidential candidates are long-time Capitol veterans well versed in the details of government policy, so the debate has the potential to devolve into the kind of wonkish back and forth that saw Mr. Romney and the president wade through tax, health care and budget arcana.
Democrats are particularly keen for Mr. Biden to re-engage on some policy questions where they believe Mr. Romney gave misleading answers last week such as his claim that he wasn't proposing a tax cut for upper-income people or that Mr. Obama had cut Medicare.
Mr. Ryan, for his part, is likely to continue pressing the argument that Mr. Obama's re-election promises to bring a new round of tax increases.
"A second Obama term will deliver more of the same, with looming tax increases on the middle class and small businesses. Americans simply can't afford another four years of President Obama's job-destroying taxes," said Andrea Saul, a Romney spokeswoman.
—Peter Nicholas, Patrick O'Connor, Sara Murray contributed to this article.Write to Janet Hook at [email protected] and Danny Yadron at [email protected]
The debate, to be broadcast nationally at 9 p.m. ET from Centre College in Danville, is expected to be more combative than last week's faceoff between the Republican candidate and President Barack Obama, whose lackluster performance disappointed his supporters.
"Looking forward to it,'' Mr. Biden said of the debate as he left Delaware this morning, and sounded like a boxer climbing into a ring. "You ever see me do rope a dope?''
Mr. Ryan sounded more chummy in a television interview Thursday morning.
"I know him as Joe," Mr. Ryan said, noting that he has known Mr. Biden from their work in Congress where Mr. Ryan represents a Wisconsin congressional district and Mr. Biden had been a senator from Delaware. "Actually, we've gotten along quite well over the years. You know, I like Joe personally quite a bit. I just disagree with his policies."
Republicans have high hopes that Mr. Ryan can ably deliver a performance as aggressive as Mr. Romney's, which has apparently contributed to polling bumps nationally and in some swing states.
Democrats, meanwhile, are looking to Mr. Biden to step up the attack on the GOP ticket in the debate and improve on Mr. Obama's performance.
Rep. Xavier Beccera (D., Calif.), traveling to Kentucky to attend the debate and contribute to Democrats' post-debate 'spin,' said he expected Mr. Biden to "pick up the slack and go on the offensive."
"It's going to be mano a mano," Mr. Beccera said. "But both are going to talk more about the top of the ticket than each other."
Indeed, debates between vice-presidential candidates are usually something of a sideshow that rarely have a decisive impact on the outcome of a presidential election.
But in a race as close as this year's, in which the political momentum has shifted with dazzling frequency, both campaigns have prepared for this debate as if it were a Broadway opening, not summer stock.
Mr. Biden now will have two goals for the Democratic ticket: re-energize the Democratic base, which has been grumbling since last week's debate, and woo back independent voters, who have been giving Mr. Romney a second look, according to polls.
To that end, the vice president has been hunkered down in a Delaware hotel room with aides and family this week practicing attack lines on Mr. Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman.
He is expected to home in on Mr. Romney's remarks about the 47% of Americans the Republican said don't pay taxes and are dependent on the federal government.
Asked about Mr. Ryan's recent comment that he expected Mr. Biden to come at him "like a cannonball," Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said Thursday morning in a CBS interview, that Mr. Biden would "hold him to account for the positions that Gov. Romney has taken in this campaign, their collective records, their approach to issues."
"Harry Truman said I don't give them hell; I just tell it like it is, and they feel like they're in hell,'' Mr. Axelrod said. "So, you know, maybe Congressman Ryan's feeling the pressure of their own positions."
Mr. Ryan meantime has spent his prep sessions focusing on how to respond to such an attack and counter that the country can't afford another Obama-Biden administration. He has reviewed video of Mr. Biden's 2008 debate with GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, but Mr. Ryan said when asked in CNN interview that he hadn't called her for advice.
Republicans have spent the week talking up the vice president's debating skills and trying to lower expectations for Mr. Ryan. On Tuesday, Mr. Romney sought to lower the bar further, telling CNN, "This is, I think, Paul's first debate. I may be wrong. He may have done something in high school. I don't know."
Mr. Biden meantime will try to paint his opponent as "the face" of conservative budget principles, from a voucher-like Medicare program to severe spending cuts, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
On the campaign trail, Mr. Biden is known for his ability to show empathy for regular voters, a skill that will likely be on display Thursday. Still, his willingness to be spontaneous carries risk, and the vice president is known for going off the White House script.
Both vice-presidential candidates are long-time Capitol veterans well versed in the details of government policy, so the debate has the potential to devolve into the kind of wonkish back and forth that saw Mr. Romney and the president wade through tax, health care and budget arcana.
Democrats are particularly keen for Mr. Biden to re-engage on some policy questions where they believe Mr. Romney gave misleading answers last week such as his claim that he wasn't proposing a tax cut for upper-income people or that Mr. Obama had cut Medicare.
Mr. Ryan, for his part, is likely to continue pressing the argument that Mr. Obama's re-election promises to bring a new round of tax increases.
"A second Obama term will deliver more of the same, with looming tax increases on the middle class and small businesses. Americans simply can't afford another four years of President Obama's job-destroying taxes," said Andrea Saul, a Romney spokeswoman.
—Peter Nicholas, Patrick O'Connor, Sara Murray contributed to this article.Write to Janet Hook at [email protected] and Danny Yadron at [email protected]