INSIDE EDITION is on the scene at the second presidential debate where preparations are underway for what promises to be a high-energy night.
Tuesday night's debate is considered make-or-break for President Obama after his lackluster performance in the first showdown with Mitt Romney.
First lady Michelle Obama sat down with Ryan Seacrest on the Today show and talked about pumping up the president when he takes the stage.
Seacrest asked, "Does he make eye contact with you? Does he look at you for encouragement?"
"You know, I can never tell, but I'm always primed, just in case he is. So, I'm perched. I'm smiling. I'm giving a thumbs up if he can see it. With the lights, you just can never tell. I assume that he can, so I'm always making sure that I'm giving him that positive love."
The heat's also on debate moderator Candy Crowley of CNN, but she says she isn't nervous.
"I used to swim competitively in high school and college, and you're always nervous up on the starting block and the minute you hit the water, all you did was swim," said Crowley.
The campus at Hofstra University in New York is buzzing with anticipation. Security is tight, with bomb-sniffing dogs and cops searching every vehicle.
INSIDE EDITION's Megan Alexander reports from the university.
Governor Romney won the coin toss and will answer the first question from the audience of undecided voters here at Hofstra. We're now learning that both campaigns are worried about having an unpredictable town hall debate where anything can happen.
Remember the moment during a town hall debate in 2000 when Al Gore got uncomfortably close to George W. Bush? Or the 2008 town hall debate when John McCain paced back and forth.
Meanwhile, Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow, a Fox News contributor, is taking heat for his suggestion that Vice President Joe Biden showed signs of dementia when he debated Congressman Paul Ryan last week.
Ablow said, "I did not evaluate Joe Biden, but if someone said to me, we want you to do what's really required to know what happened there, you have to put dementia on the differential diagnosis."
Here's the reaction by the Daily Show's Jon Stewart.
"Yes, that rare form of dementia, where you remember too much," joked Stewart.
And Paul Ryan is facing a bit of mockery today after a photo-op at a soup kitchen in the battleground state of Ohio. He and his family washed pots and pans that weren't even dirty.
Matt Lauer said on the Today show, "Is it within the realm of possibility that he would wash clean dishes? Would the campaign do that?"
Steve Schmidt said, "It's absolutely within the realm of possibility."
