. >> robert traynham, let's talk about this thing in denver this weekend.ial debate. it will be the first opportunity that mitt romney has to reach an audience, unfiltered, tens of millions of people watching. what do you hope we're talking about thursday morning and what do you think we'll be talking about with regards to his debate performance? >> well, that's an interesting question, craig. i agree with the governor, that governor romney is a fairly good debater. look, at the end of the day, both president obama and governor romney are very, very smart individuals. they know exactly what they're talking about. they're comfortable in the policy space, so the question becomes on wednesday, what do we expect? well, i think we expect that this is probably going to be a duel, that both presidential candidates most likely will probably have a win in this, but the real question is whether or not those independent voters out there, craig, are going to say, you know what, i now look at governor romney a little bit differently. he appears to be in much more comman

strategist and former adviser for the hillary clinton campaign, deputy editor anne kornblut and robert traynham you. glad you are here. robert, we will start with burning questions here. the ratings for the republican national convention were down about 30% compared to 2008. might mitt romney's message not have been heard as much as he needed it to be? do you think his people are concerned? >> i'm not sure they're overly concerned. take a look at the recent polls whether it's registered polls or those likely to vote this november. it is still neck and neck. it appears that mitt romney's message is still getting out there if you will but, of course, look, everybody who wants more eyeballs to see them on television, president company included, of course, the bottom line is when you take a look at, al alex, four years ago there was a person on the national stage called sarah palin, a lot of people were interested by her, fascinated by her, very, very diverse, interesting backgrounds. that is what peaked a lot of people's interest. >> the gallup poll has the president up by one point which does not