i'm dorothy ridings, president of the league of women voters, the sponsor of tonight's first presidentialrepublican ronald reagan and democrat walter mondale. tonight's debate marks the third consecutive presidential election in which the league is presenting the candidates for the nation's highest office in face-to-face debate. our panelists are james wieghart, national political correspondent for scripps-howard news service, diane sawyer, correspondent for the cbs program 60 minutes,' and fred barnes, national political correspondent for the baltimore sun. barbara walters of abc news, who is appearing in her fourth presidential debate, is our moderator. barbara. >> thank you, dorothy. a few words as we begin tonight's debate about the format. the position of the candidates -- that is, who answers questions first and who gives the last statement -- was determined by a toss of a coin between the two candidates. mr. mondale won, and that means that he chose to give the final closing statement. it means, too, that the president will answer the first question first. i hope that's clear. if i

riding on his performance on wednesday night. what do they need to do in that debate and in the weeks ahead to shift the campaign narrative. let's ask wall street columnist dan hennington and dorothyebenowitz and kim strausel. how far behind is mitt romney now? >> he is behind in nearly every swing state poll there is. now there is an argument campaign is making they are not nearly as far behind as the media polls but there is understanding that they have to make up some ground. >> paul: they are admitting they are behind and they have to make up. it sounds like necessity know it because they are trying to find different shifteding narratives to get ahead. have they fastened down a single strategy yet? >> here is what happened since the bad headlines. they have been telling donors on telephone calls of them wanted to do a reboot where they have a forward leaning campaign. much more aggressive about rebit go some of the president's claims, much more about presenting a bold and optimistic future based on their own ideas but they are having a hard time breaking through the media narrative. that is potential ily the big opportunity in the debate. >> paul: i agree with kim. it's an opp