McCain, Obama To Square Off In Second Debate As Race Gets Nasty

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Tuesday night's debate between Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL) will be a very different affair from the the first debate nearly two weeks ago, according to pundits.

With a month before the general election and polls saying that the financial crisis is pushing voters to support Obama, both candidates are expected to continue their negative attacks.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton issued a scathing memo on Tuesday describing McCain as "desperate for a game-changing event." Burton cites a Washington Post report quoting McCain as saying last week that he plans to "take the gloves off" during the debate.

"In order to change the dynamics of this race, we anticipate that McCain will launch his nastiest attacks and continue to lie about Barack Obama's record and his vision to fundamentally change our country. We don't know if McCain will continue his refusal to even look at Obama on stage -- like in their first debate -- but we fully expect that his "turn the page" strategy to ignore the economy will be seen in full view for 90 minutes of character attacks against Barack Obama," Burton said.

The Obama spokesman said the Democratic candidate was heading into the debate as an "underdog" since "McCain does extremely well in town hall settings."

McCain and Obama will square off at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee for a debate that "will include any issues raised by members of that audience and online."

The forum will be moderated by NBC's Tom Brokaw and will allow McCain and Obama two-minute answers, followed by one-minute discussion for each question.

The debate will be held while the two campaigns exchange some of their harshest attacks.

Obama on Monday launched a video documentary and a website detailing McCain's involvement in the 'Keating Five' corruption controversy.

The offensive move was widely seen as a response to attacks by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin over the weekend about Obama's association with former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers.

McCain was one of five U.S. senators investigated for improperly trying to prevent federal regulators from seizing Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, whose chairman Charles H. Keating, Jr. had made contributions to McCain's campaign and was later convicted of fraud.

The investigation was part of the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s.

Ayers is a former member of the 1970s radical group who is now a professor at the University of Illinois and who hosted an event for Obama's first campaign for state legislator in 1995.

McCain, who repeatedly chanted the phrase, "Who is the real Barack Obama?" during a speech on Monday, is currently trailing in national and key battleground state surveys.

Republican strategist Karl Rove over the weekend cited 39 new polls and concluded that Obama now has 273 electoral votes while McCain has 163 and 102 votes remain in a toss-up.

Howard Wolfson, the former campaign communications director for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) also wrote in the New Republic, "The race is over... An election dominated at its inception by the war in Iraq is now overwhelmingly focused on the economy.... if the election were tomorrow, Obama would win all of the states John Kerry carried and add Iowa, New Mexico, Colorado, Virginia, Nevada, Ohio and Florida."

The debate's town hall format gives McCain the best chance to turn around the race in his favor. The Republican excels in spontaneous interaction with audiences, while Obama tends to be long-winded and detached during debates despite his proven ability to excite enormous crowds during speeches.

But some pundits are saying the Arizona senator may suffer a backlash if he keeps up his heightened attacks against Obama's character.

"Does McCain want to go there? Will/should even nasty attacks register when compared to the psychological blows arriving in mailboxes these days, depicting shattered 401(k)s? And with Tuesday night's town-hall format, does a candidate want to throw bombs when there are civilians in range?" ABC's Rick Klein and Hope Ditto said in an analysis of the debate on Tuesday.

The forum's questions will be taken from a group of 100 to 150 uncommitted likely voters in the audience, and from submissions at www.mydebates.org, according to Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet.