Politics

Plenty on the Line in the Final Major-Party Debate

Either of these guys could blow it

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Mitt Romney will seek to overcome President Barack Obama's longstanding advantage on foreign policy in the third and final presidential debate Monday night, in perhaps the last opportunity for either candidate to significantly change the trajectory of the 2012 race.

Romney enters the debate at Boca Raton-based Lynn University nearly three weeks into his best stretch of the general election. After routing Obama at the first debate in Denver three weeks ago, Romney has closed to a tie or better with the president in most national and swing-state polling.

Still, Obama has retained some key advantages on the electoral map — his lead in Ohio, for example — and on the issues. While Romney has narrowed the gap on national security, polls show that voters still view Obama as the candidate they trust more on terrorism and to handle an international crisis.