Obama, Romney hunker down for debate preparation

HENDERSON, Nev. -- Nearing their first face-off, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney hunkered down for intense preparations ahead of tomorrow's presidential debate, where the GOP nominee hopes to change the trajectory of the White House race.

Obama huddled Mondaywith top advisers at a desert resort in Nevada. Romney had practice planned in Massachusetts, where he also spent most of the weekend working with his debate team.

The Republican challenger was then to head to Denver, site of the first debate, late Mondayfor a rally and more preparation for the high-stakes event.

Five weeks from Election Day, polls show Romney trailing Obama in many of the nine states that will determine the outcome of the White House race. The three October debates give Romney one of his best opportunities to stem Obama's momentum and convince the public to back his vision for the nation's future.

Both candidates were spending the days leading up to the debate in battleground states, with Romney in Colorado and Obama in Nevada.

Each had just one official event planned during his stay, but they hoped their mere presence in the states would drive local media coverage.

Obama left the lakeside resort where he is prepping for the debate briefly Sunday evening for a rally at a Las Vegas high school. The 11,000-person event was focused in part on rallying Hispanics, a key source of support for the president in Nevada, and featured a performance by the popular Mexican rock band Mana.

Keeping with his campaign's efforts to lower expectations, Obama told the crowd that while he was "just OK" at debating, his opponent was "a good debater."

Romney's team has been playing the expectations game as well, though his allies were sometimes pushing the stakes in opposite directions.

Obama aides, on the other hand, have kept quiet about how and when the president is practicing. Members of his debate team, David Axelrod and David Plouffe, traveled with Obama to Nevada on Air Force One. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who is standing in for Romney, made his way to the resort on his own.