"We worked for hours on this during the practice debates," said the campaign manager Matt Rhoades.
Mr. Cheney said he had felt obligated to prepare for the worst during his practice debates.
In the campaign last year, Mr. Libby advised Mr. Cheney, serving as the stand-in for Senator Joseph I. Lieberman in practice debates.
Advisers had seen two presidents during practice debates, one who had been listless and passive two nights before and another energetic and aggressive the next night.
He was to have played the part of George W. Bush in practice debates staged by the Gore campaign...According to people who had seen his rendition of Bush, Downey was on the verge of taking debate prep to a new level.
Reportedly, Mr. Romney's practice debates have gone worse than expected, with the former Massachusetts governor getting trounced by a variety of opponents, including the Apple personal assistant Siri.
When Mr. Gore ran through a practice debate Saturday night and again today, one aide said, a goal was to help him "explain these complex policy ideas" in a reasonable amount of time and "do it in human terms".
"She is in charge of debate preparation," Mr. Cheney said, explaining that she oversees research on the issues and on Senator Lieberman's positions, keeps the briefing papers coming and makes sure that people like Representative Rob Portman, the Ohio congressman who plays Mr. Lieberman in practice debates, show up when needed.
The commission also invited the major party candidates for vice president, Dick Cheney and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, to a debate on Oct. 5. Peter Marks (NYT) BOOK AGENT TAKES PARTISAN ROLE -- Dick Cheney got a bit of a surprise when he found out whom Senator Joseph I. Lieberman has tapped as his surrogate Dick Cheney for practice debates.
These are the men each nominee has chosen to play his rival in practice debates.
