BOCA RATON, Florida: President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney take their election feud global Monday in a final debate devoted to foreign policy that may represent their last chance to shake up a tied race.
Republican Romney will seek to erode the Democratic president’s advantage on national security and try to emerge as a plausible commander-in-chief as they spar on Libya, Syria, Iran, China and the US stealth war on terrorism.
Obama’s camp signaled before the showdown in Boca Raton, Florida at 9:00 pm (0100 GMT) that he would boast of ending a decade of costly US wars abroad, while Romney is set to charge that the president’s foreign policy is unraveling.
The rivals are neck-and-neck in national polls after Romney surged following his first debate win in early October and started chipping away at Obama’s foundation in the swing states that will decide the election.
Foreign policy is unlikely to decide who wins on November 6, with the sluggish economy driving the election, but Romney is under pressure to show basic competence following a string of blunders.
His campaign warned going into the debate that the United States could not afford four more years of Obama diplomacy if the president is re-elected.
“America stands weakened around the world, with our safety threatened, our allies increasingly isolated, and hostile nations emboldened,” Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said.
“Mitt Romney will deliver where President Obama has failed by crafting a foreign policy that restores America’s strength and increases our nation’s security abroad.”
It is unclear whether Romney’s differences with Obama are more a matter of tone or substance, and whether the Republican, if elected, would follow up on tough campaign talk on China’s economic “cheating” and Russia for example.
Obama’s camp is making the case that Romney, who has little overseas experience, cannot be trusted to steer the United States through a treacherous world of belligerent emerging powers and national security threats.
“On foreign policy, Mitt Romney has nothing to offer except bluster, chest-thumping, and a commitment to endless war,” Senator John Kerry, a possible secretary of state in Obama’s second term said.
“As tonight’s debate will demonstrate, blunder and bluster are no substitute for strong leadership,” said Kerry, who has been acting as Romney for Obama’s debate preparations.
New polls released Monday had the race a cliffhanger with two weeks to go.
CBS News and ABC News had Obama up by two and one points in the national race, but a Politico/GWU/Battleground poll showed Romney leading by two points.
While national polls offer a snapshot of momentum in the race, the nine or so states that could swing to either side will define the outcome.
Obama retains several pathways to the 270 electoral votes needed to win on November 6, but Romney has chiseled away at his advantage with signs that Florida and North Carolina are slipping towards the Republican.
The president, currently polling around 70 percent among Hispanic voters, seems to be doing well in early voting in Nevada, with the result possibly hanging on a combination of close races in Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin and Virginia.
Romney won the first debate after a lethargic performance from Obama, but the president’s feisty showing on Long Island, New York last week meant he emerged with honor restored, leaving the third debate as a tie-breaker of sorts.
Both foes toured Monday’s venue at Lynn University, where they will sit at a table with moderator Bob Schieffer, a veteran CBS news anchor, in a set-up that will rule out the predatory prowling seen during their second town hall-style debate.
Sticking to a winning formula from the second debate, Obama and his wife Michelle dined on steak and potatoes. Romney earlier lunched on a veggie burger, with Cajun fries washed down with a vanilla shake.
Romney will likely make a new attempt to trip Obama over his administration’s shifting stories on the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya on September 11 that killed four Americans.
The Republican has squandered several chances to jump Obama on the issue, after a hasty statement early in the crisis and a stumble in the last debate over the president’s characterization of events in Benghazi.
Republicans claim Obama was reluctant to admit the attack was an act of terrorism, fearing an Al-Qaeda comeback would knock him off his pedestal as the commander-in-chief who had put the militants on the run.
Top Obama aides at first said the attack was a spontaneous act that arose out of anger at an anti-Muslim video.
Later assessments blamed heavily armed militants, but officials say the incident still seems more opportunistic than pre-planned.
Reports in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times may have given Obama some breathing room Monday, finding top aides based their early conclusions on the attack on CIA talking points and not on political spin.
The president is expected to remind Americans he kept his promise to end the Iraq war, is getting troops out of Afghanistan and ordered the raid that killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Both camps say their candidates will draw discussion back to the issue most pressing for voters — the economy.
The Republican will seek to pressure Obama over Iran’s nuclear program, arguing that presidential weakness has emboldened Tehran.
Complicating one of the main topics on the eve of the debate, The New York Times said US officials believed Iran was ready for one-on-one talks with Washington, though the White House denied the report.
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