Obama's big night: Will it be a letdown?

Maybe the question of the day is why would you give someone a heads-up that you will confront them?  Hopefully that question and more will get answered tonight when the Democrats debate at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT.

So what will end up happening?  Craig Crawford thinks that either we are in for a surprise, or the Obama team underestimates the rapid-response power of the Clinton Campaign:

For some reason, the Obama camp spends a lot of time telegraphingwhat they are going to do. This has allowed the front-running Clinton’steam plenty of opportunities to prepare counter-offensives or schedulenews-making announcements that eclipse Obama’s plans.

In the days leading up to tonight’s debate, Obama and his aides haverepeatedly predicted that he will come out swinging, detailing theissues that he will raise against Clinton, ranging from her policyviews on Iran and Social Security to doubts about her electability. Notsurprisingly, Clinton’s public schedule was cleared yesterday so thatshe can prepare in detail for all the attacks that Obama has been kindenough to preview.

Perhaps the Illinois senator — and runner-up to his New Yorkcolleague in Democratic preference polls — has saved something for asurprise. But so far, he has not displayed much savvy for doing that.

Join us for a live chat during the Democratic debate.