Now that the VP debate is over, McCain and Obama can stop worrying about their running mates at get ready for round two of a three round debate match. 

Obama increased his lead after their first meeting due to the debate itself and McCain’s now infamous “let’s postpone the debate” attempt. With McCain just recently pulling out of Michigan (effectively conceding the state) he will need to get in a few good jabs to gain ground. 

Here is what we can expect… 

McCain 

• McCain needs to come out swinging with what works. He will probably continue to try and hit Obama on foreign policy and wanting to end the Iraq war on a “timeline.” McCain has tried to position “timeline equals surrender” so I expect a few shots in that area. 

• He will try and stay away from the economy for the most part; especially about the bailout specifically. He had hoped postponing the campaign to solve the bailout would work in his favor – it did not. 

• McCain will go after Obama’s tax plans for big businesses. 

• He will try and focus on Obama’s liberal voting record as well as Obama’s record of party line voting. Be prepared for a few “Maverick” references at this point. 

• McCain will most likely take one shot at mentioning Palin (he did not mention her by name at all in the first debate). She held her own so he may go for some “it will be great to have fresh ideas in Washington” or something. Other than that, he will keep her, again, off the radar. 

• He will continue to hammer Obama’s level of experience and I would expect another “naïve” reference in their somewhere. 

• Look for McCain to look “less irritated” in this go around. He will look at Obama and be careful of not overreacting when Obama is speaking. 

 Obama 

• Obama, since he is leading, only needs to maintain. He will try and appear confident and decisive. The last debate should be his model. 

• Unlike McCain wanting to stay away from the bailout, Obama will want it on the table. 

• He will try and tie McCain to Bush as much as possible. 

• Obama will try and clarify the differences in Health Care between the two of them. Tough call because although they are different, it will be difficult to get the points across in such a short format. 

• Obama will be sure to mention that 95% of all people will have lower (or the same) taxes. *I expect this to be a clarification response to McCain’s saying Obama wants to raise taxes. 

• He will probably clarify his exit strategy from Iraq – ensuring people although he does want our troops out of Iraq; he wants to do it right (ie: not “surrender”). He will then want to direct efforts to Afghanistan.

Check here if you want to see the FACT CHECK from the first Debate…