Lowell, it takes a while to program McCain. No way he'd be ready by Friday. Heck, today at his first presser since approximately mid-summer he couldn't even mouth his talking points correctly without stumbling.  

That's the point I'm getting at, let's get the candidates when they are NOT pre-programmed and see how they do!

I would be surprised if the economic crisis doesn't come up.  After all, there is an effort to have other countries engage in the same kind of bailouts, in concert with the one planned here. Further, whether or not the U.S. government takes on another trillion dollars of debt is certainly going to affect our foreign policy. Can we even afford to finance the Iraq occupation with debt anymore?  Currency devaluation, trade agreements, initiatives to address global warming, all could fairly come up in a debate about foreign policy.  

with global creditors pulling their money out of certain debt instruments, then into treasuries, then out of dollars, what would you do to restore confidence in the largest debt market in the world?  

Or it could be should Georgia join NATO?  Because what happened to all that big talk about Georgia?

No way to change the topic or waste the energy trying now. Barack will hammer Gramps no matter what the issue, because he's smart (if not brilliant) he'll be well prepared, and he knows how to marshall the facts! Popcorn, please.
Surely the world economy will be a key topic, and I'm sure Barack is preparing to use that effectively. I have little doubt the economy will be as big, if not bigger, an issue in a few weeks when they debate again, no? I'll bet these are the most watched debates in history, by far!

I'm sure Obama will find a way to turn the debate to his advantage, even to the point of manipulating a mid-debate topic switch to the economy, if need be.  I haven't verified it myself, but I heard on TV somewhere (possibly Hardball) that Kennedy did something similar against Nixon in '60.  Plus, the moderator for Friday's debate is Jim Lehrer.  Lehrer not only is an older mild-mannered guy, but also he's already said he doesn't view it as his job to argue with the debaters.  He's going to count on them to keep each other honest.  It would be a win-win for Obama if he could not only switch topics to his advantage but also cause McCain to lose his cool trying to work the ref who refuses to be a ref.

It is my guess that Obama originally wanted the economy/domestic debate last because those issues play to his favor.  I don't think this crisis is going anywhere, so perhaps keeping the current order, and trying to inject as much about the economy as Obama can into the upcoming debate is the best outcome strategy wise for the dems.  We could basically end up with 2 debates about the economy which is definitely a plus for Obama.

when answering the question leads with a concise punch line of his point, and thereafter adds any nuances he feels necessary, NOT the other way around. That way the audience (which has a short attention span) immediately relates to what he's saying; any in the audience who can follow a sentence with dependent clauses and multi-syllable words can wallow in Barack's brainy expansion of his point while the majority are still absorbing the punch line which was delivered first.

Please, Barack, do not wander all around the topic first and finally come to the conclusion after mulling the answer over aloud. No, give us the talking point first, THEN expound. We can be sure that McCain, given his mental capacity, will have his pithy straight talking punch lines (and little else) to offer, but the audience will be impressed by what they think is McCain's incisiveness and his direct answers---- even if the answer may not quite fit the question.  They will grow impatient if Obama wanders around the topic, chews it over, and then comes up with a very intelligent but convoluted answer---- they will think he's wishy washy, overly nuanced, and not presidential.

I'm very nervous. Debates are always his weakness.  McCain usually very good off the cuff and has been practicing at town halls for over a year.  

And I tend to agree with the analysis at 538 that says this way will be better for Obama.