Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will have to be on his toes during the debates this fall as the Obama campaign is already in debate preparation mode.
The Obama re-election campaign announced today that Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) was selected to play the role of Romney during President Obama’s debate rehearsals, according to The Washington Post.
Kerry, who was the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2004, and a current Senator from Massachusetts, is seen as one of the foremost statesmen and elders of the Democratic Party.
Because Kerry is from Massachusetts, the state where Romney was governor, he has extensive experience and insight into Romney’s debating tactics.
Kerry was an advisor to Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) when Kennedy defeated Romney for the U.S. Senate seat in 1994. Kerry also was a stout observer of Romney’s debate performance in his bid for governor in 2002.
Kerry is perhaps best known for his performance against President George W. Bush in the presidential debates of 2004. He is the most experienced politician in the Democratic Party to have debated a sitting president, but lose his bid for the presidency.
During the debates and campaign against President Bush, Kerry was repeatedly called a flip-flopper– the same rhetorical tactic that the Left is currently using against Romney.
The Romney campaign has not yet selected someone to play President Obama during debate rehearsals.
According to The Hill, Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) was the stand-in for debate rehearsal in 2008 when John McCain was the Republican presidential nominee.
