As opinion polls show them in a dead heat, Vice-President Al Gore and Governor George W. Bush are preparing intensively for the first debate in the Presidential election in Boston tomorrow night.
After lagging well behind Mr Gore two weeks ago, Mr Bush has now closed the gap in most polls. A Reuters/MSNBC daily tracking poll showed Mr Gore ahead by 45 to 43 points yesterday but they were tied at 44 each on Saturday. A Newsweek poll has Mr Bush leading by 45 to 44 points.
Political observers predict that tomorrow's televised debate could be a crucial factor in an election which is proving to be the most closely contested in decades.
It is being compared with the Kennedy-Nixon debate in 1960 when the widespread impression that the young, telegenic senator had upstaged the experienced vice-president helped Kennedy win the presidency with less than a percentage point of the popular vote.
This time the pressure is mainly on Mr Bush as it will be his first unscripted exposure to a nation-wide audience. He will also be up against an opponent who is regarded as the most experienced debater in American politics.
Mr Bush will be watched closely to see if he can overcome doubts about whether he is sufficiently experienced for the presidency, especially in his grasp of foreign affairs. He will also have to avoid verbal stumbles which have laid him open to ridicule in the media in the past.
But if Mr Bush emerges from the first of the three scheduled debates regarded as having performed well, this could be seen as a setback for Mr Gore who has a reputation for easily out-scoring opponents in previous electoral debates.
Mr Gore will also be trying to show voters who have not yet made up their minds that he is not the kind of wooden character often portrayed in the media, that he has credibility and has emerged from President Clinton's shadow to be his own man.
Mr Bush completed his preparations at his ranch in Texas by going through "pepper drills" where aides pepper him with quick questions.
Mr Gore chose what he called the "serene environment" of a shark research centre in Florida to wind up his rehearsals for the debate. He has included consultations with selected voters he met during his campaigning about what they expect to come out of the debates.
The Bush campaign is playing up expectations from Mr Gore by emphasising his greater experience as a debater in political campaigns since he first ran for the presidency in 1988. Ms Karen Hughes, director of communications for the Bush campaign, told reporters, "We all know the Vice-President is a world-class debater" and that he has debated "30 or 40" times compared with 12 for Mr Bush which included 10 during this year's primary campaign.
Mr Gore has pointed out that Mr Bush out-debated Senator John McCain in the primaries against most expectations. It is also pointed out that Mr Bush proved to be a skilled debater when winning the governorship of Texas against an experienced Democratic incumbent.