According to the debate schedule, tonight will be about domestic policy divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on topics to be selected by the moderator and announced several weeks before the debate.
The moderator, Jim Lehrer, Executive Editor of the PBS NewsHour, will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic.
Mitt Romney needs to show how small business owners, manufacturers and decision-makers at small and medium-sized companies, by a significant majority (69 percent) say Obama's regulatory policies have hurt American small businesses and manufacturers.
How 67 percent say there is too much uncertainty in the market today to expand, grow or hire new workers.
Romney needs to remind Americans that unemployment, under Obama's policies has stayed above 8 percent for 43 straight months.
Romney needs to remind Americans that he has been in business, Obama has not, and he holds the edge on understanding what businesses need to grow, expand and hire to lower unemployment which will stimulate the economy more than any artificial means, such as quantitative easing, can ever do.
Then Romney needs to lay out, concisely, in the time given, a quick overview of what he will do differently than Obama has done.
When Obama claims he created or saved 4.5 million jobs, Romney needs to point out that there are 400,00 less people working today than when he took office. (Source CNN and Yahoo News )
Romney also needs to point out that although six in 10 jobs lost during the Great Recession paid mid-level wages, the majority of new jobs created in the recovery -- positions such as store clerks, laborers and home healthcare aides -- pay much less. (Source- National Employment Law Project via LA Times)
One liners and soundbite statements are great to use against candidates in campaign ads, but during a presidential debate, Americans want to see solutions to problems.
If Romney can show them he is the solution the "Obama problem," he will take the night.
Obama will talk about what Romney "will do" in his opinion, but Romney can benefit from what Obama has already done and failed to do.
And for heavens sake Mitt, smile now and then but do not, under any circumstances, smirk... pretty please.