Both campaigns hard at work setting ridiculous debate expectations

Conversely, Psaki told reporters on Air Force One, Romney has taken more time to prepare “than any candidate in modern history”; she compared his training for the three candidate faces-offs to that of “an Olympic decathlete.”

Asked on Wednesday what would be the worst thing that could happen at the first debate, Psaki’s wry reply suggested that she was in on the joke.

“Well, he could fall off the stage,” she said.

Meanwhile, chief Obama strategist David Axelrod has been particularly effusive in his praise for the Republican nominee, to whom he has otherwise offered almost nothing but unadulterated disparagement over the past six months.

“Mitt Romney had many, many debates and he was very good in them,” Axelrod told Reuters. “By and large, when he needed to bring it, he did. He memorizes his set pieces and he delivers them well. He obviously has no hesitance at all about going after someone.”