For their respective first presidential debates on Friday, both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are involved in deliberate planning - preparing to focus on foreign policy and national security issues – more so since the presidential campaign appears to be locked in a virtual ‘dead heat.’ This will be first of three presidential debates before Election Day, and will be held at the University of Mississippi. The debate will be moderated by PBS’ Jim Lehrer.

It is expected that Friday’s debate would be the most watched of all the debates this year. Owing to the keen interest of voters in this election, it may well surpass the viewership numbers of 62.4 million, who tuned into President Bush’s debate with Senator John Kerry in 2004. Presidential historians opine that this first debate will be a key test for Obama, who is widely perceived to hold an advantage on the economic and domestic issues that will likely dominate the next two debates on October 7 and October 15.

Debate scholars who have studied the previous debate performances of both the candidates argue that both have weaknesses going into the debate, exposed by multiple primary debates. No wonder both campaigns are already playing that age-old game of downplaying the expectations about their man ahead of Friday’s event, planning to more vociferously tout the skills of their opponent over their own candidate’s abilities.

Obama spokesman, Nick Shapiro, told ABCNews, “John McCain has boasted throughout the campaign about his decades of Washington foreign policy experience and what an advantage that will be for him. This debate offers him major home court advantage and anything short of a game-changing event will be a key missed opportunity for him.”

However, McCain’s game plan about the debates was held close to his campaign’s chest, with no one willing to respond to the inquiries. Nonetheless, McCain told voters in Ohio: “Have no doubt about the capabilities of Senator Obama to a debate. He’s very, very good. He was able to defeat Senator Hillary Clinton, who, as we all know, is very accomplished. He was able to, with his eloquence, inspire a great number of Americans. These will be tough debates.”

Delivering similar compliments right back at McCain, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said: “Given his decades in Washington, John McCain literally has more experience debating than anyone who has ever run for president. If he can’t show the skills he’s acquired debating foreign policy, it will be a massive disappointment.”