Romney: 'I'm looking forward to the debates'

While Mitt Romney's aides are looking to downplay expectations for the series of his upcoming debates with President Obama, the Republican nominee said Friday he's "looking forward" to his showdowns with the president.

While Romney was meeting with reporters on his campaign plane Friday afternoon, the Republican nominee was asked if he was ready for the contests.

"I'm looking forward to the debates, I'll put it that way," Romney responded, according to the pool report.

Romney went on to say that in order to change the trajectory of the presidential race — where many polls show the Republican challenger trailing in crucial swing states — he had to describe how his administration would improve the lives of American families.

"The American people will listen carefully to the conversation that's held over three debates and the fourth, with the vice presidential debate, and they'll decide who can help their family, who will be able to get our economy going in the way it could be going, and they'll make their decision based on what they believe is in the best interest of the country and their own family," Romney said, "and I expect to be able to describe that in a way people will understand, and if they do, I'll get elected."

In a memo Romney senior adviser Beth Meyers distributed to surrogates this week, the campaign said it faced an uphill battle in the contests.

"Voters already believe — by a 25-point margin — that President Obama is likely to do a better job in these debates," wrote Meyers. "Given President Obama’s natural gifts and extensive seasoning under the bright lights of the debate stage, this is unsurprising. President Obama is a uniquely gifted speaker, and is widely regarded as one of the most talented political communicators in modern history. This will be the eighth one-on-one presidential debate of his political career. For Mitt Romney, it will be his first."

But Meyers also displayed some of the confidence Romney expressed to reporters.

"If President Obama is as negative as we expect, he will have missed an opportunity to let the American people know his vision for the next four years and the policies he’d pursue," the aide wrote. "That’s not an opportunity Mitt Romney will pass up. He will talk about the big choice in this election — the choice between President Obama’s government-centric vision and Mitt Romney’s vision for an opportunity society with more jobs, higher take-home pay, a better-educated workforce, and millions of Americans lifted out of poverty into the middle class."

During his discussion with reporters, Romney did admit that those who followed his campaign closely were likely to hear his responses phrased as he frequently has on the campaign trail.

"I'm sure those of you who've heard me speak a few hundred times will recognize some of the things I say," Romney said.

But the candidate said his real concern was that his message could be lost in debate-night "theatrics."

"You know, I know that in debates there's always interest in the theatrics, if you will, and the one-liners, the jokes, and who wore what color tie and so forth," Romney said. 

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