`It`s going great` says Obama on New York debate preparations

Washington: US President Barack Obama has said that his preparations for tomorrow`s presidential debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney is "going great", as his aides hoped that he would be more aggressive this time.

"It is going great!" Obama said in Williamsburg, Virginia where he landed on Saturday for his three-day debate preparations. The second of the three presidential debates is scheduled for tomorrow in New York. Obama had a lacklustre performance against Romney during the first debate early this month, following which his Republican challenger has eroded all his national lead and is now slightly ahead of him in all the latest nation polls. In an interview later, Obama termed the debate as a bad night. As he was busy preparing for his debate, Obama`s key advisors said that he would appear to be more aggressive this time in New York. "I think he`s going to be aggressive in making the case for his view of where we should go as a country," David Axelrod, the Obama Campaign Senior Strategist, told the Fox News in an interview. In the upcoming debate, Obama would be very forward looking, said Robert Gibbs, a senior advisor to the Obama Campaign. "I think the president will be very forward-looking, will be very conscious of making sure people understand the choice in this election," he told the CNN. "I think you`ll see somebody who is very passionate about the choice that our country faces, and putting that choice in front of voters. Are we going to build this economy from the middle out? Are we going to give people opportunity and make the needed investments to give them that opportunity, or are we going to do this from the top down, the perspective that the Romney campaign brings?" Gibbs said. The Romney Campaign sought back by asserting the Republican candidate was ready to meet any challenge. Romney is in Boston preparing for the debate with Senator Rob Portman and longtime aide Peter Flaherty. "The President can change his style. He can change his tactics. He can`t change his record," Ed Gillespie, senior advisor to the Romney Campaign, told the CNN. "And he can`t change his policies. And that`s what this election is about," he added. "The governor (Romney) is going to do what he did on the last debate. He`s going to talk about his agenda. He`s going to talk about his policies and there is a big choice election here between President Obama`s policies and Governor Romney`s policies," Gillespie said making another appearance on the Fox News channel on Sunday. "That became clear in the first debate. It will be clear in the second debate. It was clear in the vice presidential debate," he said. PTI