Romney Is Practicing Debate Zingers

The New York Times reports that Mitt Romney has spent the last few weeks practicing one-liners to zing at the president during the debates.

Mr. Romney’s team has concluded that debates are about creating moments and has equipped him with a series of zingers that he has memorized and has been practicing on aides since August. His strategy includes luring the president into appearing smug or evasive about his responsibility for the economy. Mr. Obama is not particularly fluid in sound bites, so his team is aiming for a workmanlike performance like his speech at the Democratic convention. He is looking to show that Mr. Romney would drive the country in an extreme ideological direction at odds with the interests of the middle class. For both men, it is a chance to reintroduce themselves to the largest audience in the campaign to date. “The debate at one level is almost a Zen moment — who is this person?” said Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, who debated Mr. Romney during the Republican primary campaign. “What’s the larger story? What are we watching? What’s the drama we’re watching?”

The first debate is in two days.