US Candidates Drilled for First of Make-or-break Debates

Barack Obama and John McCain began intensive rehearsals yesterday for the first presidential debate on Friday, which both men hope will break the stubborn weeks-long deadlock in the opinion polls.

Obama has abandoned all but a handful of campaign events to devote almost four days to training for the clash, setting up a debates camp in Tampa, Florida. His performances on a mock-up of the debate stage are being videoed and scrutinized for his answers and facial expressions. McCain is fitting rehearsals in between an almost full campaign program.

The Obama-McCto ain clash, which is expected to attract the biggest-ever US television audience for a political debate, is to be held at the symbolically resonant University of Mississippi, once a bastion of racism and scene of violent clashes during the civil rights campaign of the 1960s.

Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster, said: "I do not think any debate has ever been more important ... There is a huge amount at stake in this."

Stan Greenberg, a pollster for the Democrats, said presidential debates had a big impact, with the potential for all the campaign work and poll leads of the preceding months to be "wiped out in seconds".

The debate comes as pollsters are split on why Obama has not opened a big lead over McCain, given the state of the economy, President George Bush's unpopularity, and hostility towards the Iraq war.

Racism has emerged in recent days as one of the main factors, after a reluctance by pollsters to discuss it. One estimate is that it could be costing Obama up to 6% of votes, enough to lose the election. A USA Today poll yesterday showed the two remain tied, as they have been for weeks - with Obama on 47% and McCain on 45%. An AP poll showed that a third of white Democrats had a negative view of blacks.

Neither Obama nor McCain, based on performances in the primaries, is a strong debater, with the Democratic candidate needing to curb overlong answers and McCain to curb his temper. The two held a joint meeting last month but did not debate, instead being interviewed back-to-back. McCain came across better, with short, humorous replies in contrast to Obama's reflective and academic replies.

In spite of recent weeks being subsumed by Wall Street, the debate will just be on foreign affairs, McCain's strong point. The first of the three debates was supposed to be on domestic policy but Obama fought to have that left to the end.

The preparation goes down to even camera angles and make-up. McCain has a scar on his face that his advisers want to ensure does not appear too prominent.