Dems hope VP debate blunts GOP momentum

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Democratic strategists say they hope any momentum Republican U.S. presidential nominee Mitt Romney gained can be blunted during the vice presidential debate.

Some Democrats said they think a strong performance by Vice President Joe Biden in his debate Thursday with GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan could set aside the generally accepted poor performance by President Obama's debate with Romney, The Hill said.

However, some strategists have expressed concern about Biden, who is given to verbal gaffes and inartfully made statements.

"Joe Biden needs to go back to the effective organizing principle of the Obama campaign, which was at some level not adhered to last night," said Chris Lehane, a strategist who worked in the during the Bill Clinton administration and on Vice President Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, said Thursday after the Obama-Romney tilt in Denver Wednesday.

"He needs to be the aggressor, keep the foot on the gas," Lehane said.

Campaign aides told The Hill Biden's debate prep so far has included two mock debate sessions with Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., standing in for Ryan.

In Iowa, Biden told reporters his preparations were "going well."

"What I've been doing mostly, quite frankly, is studying up on Congressman Ryan's positions on the issues," Biden said. "And Gov. Romney has embraced [them], as least everything I can see."