Republican John McCain's debate history includes a lot of zingers and memorable one-liners, along with an occasional flub or a flash of temper. In 2007, he said, "We must win in Iraq. If we withdraw, there will be chaos. There will be genocide, and they will follow us home."
Foreign policy, which is supposed to be the topic of Friday night's debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford is McCain's strong suit in all of the polling-- based on decades of experience as a U.S. Senator, a naval officer, and a P.O.W. for 5 1/2 years in north Vietnam.
"I will get Osama Bin Laden as president of the United States. I will follow him to the gates of hell and I will bring him to justice," said McCain in 2007.
Republican consultant Christine Dudley says McCain's task Friday night is to remind voters he's the tested leader.
"Absolutely. And I think that is something that we saw settling in at our national convention where a lot of people began to focus on who John McCain is and understood the breadth of his experience and the opportunities that he brings to the oval office with a new world view," said Dudley.
Obama has had good and bad debates in the presidential season as he struggled to be more concise and less pondering.
"I can see how people were offended. It's not the first time I've made, you know, a statement that was mangled up. It's not going to be the last," said Obama in May 2008.
According to democratic consultant Don Rose, Obama has got to keep it simple Friday night and connect every foreign policy question to the economy, which is his strong suit.
"You start talking about Iraq and you're talking about a trillion dollar war that is financed on debt that is part of this problem. He has to bring almost every foreign policy question back to the current economics," said Rose.
Watch the debate on ABC7 starting at 8 p.m.
