–Vice President Biden, GOP VP Nominee Ryan To Debate At 9 PM EDT
–Biden Brings Foreign Policy Expertise, Ryan is Fiscal Policy Expert
–Polls Show Romney Has Moved To Narrow National Lead Over Obama
–Obama and Romney To Debate Again Next Tuesday

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – At a very minimum, the Thursday night debate
between Vice President Joe Biden and the Republican vice presidential
nominee, Congressman Paul Ryan, will provide an interesting study in
contrasts.

What is less clear is if the vice presidential debate in Danville,
Kentucky, will also be a pivot point in the national election.

Biden and Ryan will debate for 90 minutes beginning at 9 p.m. EDT.

For the last several months, President Obama has enjoyed a small
but persistent lead over Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Romney’s performance in the first presidential debate last week was
considered far stronger than Obama’s by many analysts and he has surged
ahead of the president in many national polls.

The composite poll for Thursday by Real Clear Politics shows Romney
ahead of Obama by a 48% to 46% margin.

But that same poll has Obama leading in the decisive Electoral
College by 201 to 181, with a number of states still seen as too close
to call.

Both Obama and Romney are seeking the 270 electoral votes needed to
secure the presidency on November 6.

Analysts are uncertain if Romney’s surge will persist or fade and
say that strong debate performances by Biden or Ryan will set the stage
for the next two presidential debates.

Obama and Romney will debate again next Tuesday in Hempstead, New
York and Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Florida.

Biden, 69, was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and was the
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Obama selected
him in 2008 to be his vice presidential nominee.

Voluble and passionate, Biden if an often effective stump speaker
but has a history of drifting off message and making gaffes. Foreign
policy is his main area of policy expertise. He chaired one set of
budget talks last year.

Ryan, 42, was first elected to the House in 1998 and currently
represents Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District. He is currently the
chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Ryan is a respected but also a controversial figure in Congress. He
is the author of the main Republican fiscal blueprint which contains
deep spending cuts and sweeping entitlement reforms, especially focused
on Medicare and Medicaid.

Ryan’s supporters have called his fiscal agenda bold and
aggressive. They say it frontally attacks the problem of rising federal
spending.

Ryan’s critics have called the Ryan budget unbalanced and even
reckless. They say he attacks only one half of the fiscal problem —
spending — but doesn’t balance the federal budget for almost 30 years,
not until 2040.

Ryan’s budget makes deep cuts in the projected growth of federal
spending and calls for the fundamental overhaul of Medicare, Medicaid
and welfare programs. It also calls for repealing the 2010 health care
law.

Ryan was a member of the Simpson-Bowles commission. He opposed the
final package, saying it didn’t overhaul Obama’s 2010 health care law
and included additional revenues.

** MNI Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

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