During the September 22 edition of MSNBC Live, host Jeff Rossen and Politico correspondent Eamon Javers agreed that expectations in the upcoming presidential debate were higher for Sen. Barack Obama. After Rossen referred to Obama as “an amazing orator,” Javers said that “everybody assumes that Barack Obama is a better speaker than John McCain” and added: "[I]f Obama stumbles, on the flip-side, and doesn't appear as well-versed or as smooth a talker as we've come to expect of him, that could be a real disaster for the Obama camp. ... So, McCain really benefits from low expectations going in here." In fact, “everybody” doesn't “assume[]” that Obama is the better speaker in a debate setting and that McCain needs only to exceed low expectations: Republican National Committee deputy chair and McCain campaign fundraiser Frank Donatelli recently asserted that McCain “is much better at giving answers off the cuff, and Obama has some troubles when he doesn't have his teleprompter.” Moreover, several media figures and outlets have also suggested that a debate setting favors McCain.

In a September 16 interview with National Review Online, Donatelli said: “Starting early next week, I think you'll see a lot of interest in Friday's debate. It may draw the highest numbers we've ever seen, and I think that for the v.p. debate, you'll see a tremendous amount of interest. We feel good about that. Senator McCain is much better at giving answers off the cuff, and Obama has some trouble when he doesn't have his teleprompter.”

Numerous media outlets or figures have also asserted or suggested that a debate format favors McCain. For instance:

• In a September 9 column, The Des Moines Register's David Yepsen wrote: “The next big events are the debates. Democrats should be worried about those as well. McCain sticks to his message and is better at sound-bite answers in these gabfests. Obama hesitates and meanders. He seems too thoughtful. Too thoughtful? How can that be bad in a president, when we've had so little thoughtfulness in recent years? Sorry, but the nature of television being what it is, the one-liner and the glib jab tend to look more commanding and executive-like. Thoughtful is too equivocal. We got a little taste of how the debates could look at that Saddleback Church forum awhile back. McCain did much better than Obama simply by delivering clearer answers. Obama should have done a better job of focusing his answers, especially since this problem plagued him in the primary debates."
• In an August 24 editorial, the Dayton Daily News wrote of Obama: “He is not the greatest debater in the world. In the debates during the presidential primaries, Sen. Hillary Clinton did better. And when Sen. Obama and Sen. John McCain were interviewed a week ago on television by the same minister, Sen. McCain did better.
• In an August 18 post on MSNBC.com's First Read blog, political director Chuck Todd, deputy political director Mark Murray, and political researcher Domenico Montanaro wrote of August 16's Saddleback Civil Forum: "[It] was a fascinating event because the contrast between the two candidates was so clear. Obama better be thankful for the timing -- he seemed a little rusty and clearly has some work to do before he meets McCain face-to-face on September 26, the night of the first presidential debate in Oxford, MS. If there is an upside for Obama, it's that he might now enter the first debate with slightly lower expectations than McCain."
• On the August 18 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, Terry Jeffrey, editor of the conservative Human Events, said of Obama: “He's an excellent stump speaker. He's not a good debater. When they were asked direct questions on Saturday [at the Saddleback Civil Forum], John McCain gave clear, direct, immediate answers. He was funny sometimes. Barack Obama was convoluted in his answers. He wasn't direct. He seemed evasive at times. I think that these debates could be very good for John McCain.”
• In an August 18 article for the conservative American Spectator, Philip Klein wrote: “But if this weekend's forum hosted by Pastor Rick Warren at his Saddleback Church is any indication of how the two candidates will perform in the presidential debates, it's time to recalibrate the existing expectations. The debates may still be a wipeout -- only Obama now seems likelier to bite the dust.”
• During CNN's August 16 coverage of the Saddleback Civil Forum, senior political analyst David Gergen said: “I think coming out of this, the clear lesson for Barack Obama is if he wants to win the debates against John McCain, he's going to have to lift the quality of his game. He's got to be like McCain, forceful, persuasive, patriotic, moved the crowd. Barack Obama thoughtful, but I don't think moved the needle very much emotionally. He's going to have to lift it up. I think we ought to readjust our thoughts about what these debates look like. John McCain is going to be a much tougher opponent. But tonight is an example of much tougher opponent in these debates than anybody thought.”
• On the April 8 edition of Fox News' America's Election HQ, during a discussion of Gen. David Petraeus' testimony to Congress, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said that “Obama here was kind of groping for words. He was nowhere near the normal eloquent Obama he usually is.” Host Megyn Kelly replied: “And a lot of Republicans think that if we go forward into a general election with McCain on one side and Obama on the other, we'll see more of that, because their feeling is he is better on the stump than he is in the debate forum.” Fleischer replied: “Absolutely.”

From the 10 a.m. ET hour of MSNBC Live on September 22:

ROSSEN: Now, on Friday, Barack Obama and John McCain will go from trading sound bites and these long-distance jabs we keep seeing to a face-to-face showdown. That's when it gets real interesting. It's their first debate, but while most Americans are focused on the economic crisis, this debate is about foreign policy and national security. Eamon Javers is a correspondent with Politico.com. Good morning to you.

JAVERS: Hi, how are you?

ROSSEN: What are the expectations going into Friday? I mean, could this be a game-changer debate?

JAVERS: It's absolutely a game-changer. I mean, the stakes couldn't really be higher. I mean, we've got the financial world in a total meltdown, and we're supposed to talking about national security, but I don't see how the candidates will be able to resist talking about this financial crisis, that really, if it is allowed to unspool, could become a real national security crisis for the United States and much of the Western world here, as the economies are really on the brink of total disaster. The stakes for these presidential candidates really couldn't be higher on Friday.

ROSSEN: Eamon, that's the point here. I mean, McCain had a bad week last week, he has since come down in the polls -- we're beginning to see it in the daily tracking polls, and I have some of the state polls in front of me as well. How does he turn this around? Does he really have to -- I mean, does he have to change his message, or does he just keep going the way he's been going?

JAVERS: Well, there's two problems for John McCain. One is on the substance, and then the other one is on the style of the debate. On the substance, this is going to be about national security, which is his strong point, but to the extent that we get into the economy at all, that hasn't really been his strength so far. Understanding what's going on in the financial markets right now is difficult enough for people who are sophisticated players in the markets, let alone for John McCain, who has never been an economic expert. So, beefing up on the substance is going to be very tough for him. And then on style, Barack Obama is such a smooth, good-looking, polished speaker. For John McCain really isn't, and to go head to head with Barack Obama on that front is gonna be difficult. And you can be sure that his aides are really rehearsing him right now, over and over and over again on the key lines that they want him to say and just getting comfortable with the camera and the environment and all the things -- the little things that you have to do when you're on stage to present a calm and commanding presence on stage.

ROSSEN: Obama is setting up debate camp in Tampa, Florida, I think, this week. What is John McCain doing, do you hear about?

JAVERS: Well, John McCain is gonna be doing the same thing. Both candidates are gonna find a staffer who is really good at imitating the other candidate. So, McCain people will have a person actually playing Barack Obama during their mock debates as they go through, and they try to throw everything they can think of at their candidate to make sure that he is on his toes and can respond to any kind of jab from the other side. Both sides will come up with an aide who will actually play the opposing part.

ROSSEN: No one is gonna take away from Barack Obama -- he is an amazing orator. Does John McCain try to go after that, or just play his own game here? Why even try to beat a guy that you think you can't beat in that category?

JAVERS: Well, yeah, it's tricky. I mean, McCain can play the expectations game, right. I mean, everybody assumes that Barack Obama is a better speaker than John McCain, and if that's how it turns out, then people will say, “Well, that's pretty much what we thought.” But if Obama stumbles, on the flip-side, and doesn't appear as well-versed or as smooth a talker as we've come to expect of him, that could be a real disaster for the Obama camp, because McCain, by contrast, will look a lot better. So, McCain really benefits from low expectations going in here.

ROSSEN: Lot to lose for both sides. Eamon Javers, Politico.com. Thanks so much for your help today.