0 what is planned for him? >> that's right, milissa. he's going to be doing his own debate camp there, up until a day before the debate. he's spending time with chris van hollen, that's his sparring partner. van hollen has worked with paul ryan, he's a democrat from maryland, who worked with ryan with and against on the house budget committee. so van hollen is someone who's very familiar, not only with his policies. so the two of them will be participating in mock debates. they've done two to date, and i'm sure they'll be doing a lot more up until wednesday, before they head to danville, kentucky, for the big night. >> what is the biggest concern for mr. biden and his team? >> well, when they really would like to do is to change the conversation from last week's performance by barack obama, get to change that conversation on thursday, and to really talk specifically about the ryan budget. joe biden told reporters last week that what he's doing is looking at ryan's policies and seeing how he can apply them to the ryan/romney ticket as a whole. what they really would like to condescending. he had to have an even performance, get through the night. this is going to be a very different night. as you said, the two men know each other, they both have very in-depth policy backgrounds. i think you'll see a lot more depth of policy knowledge exchanged, a lot more barbed attacks, and biden's going to have to go after ryan for those particular policies and talk a lot about his own expertise in not only budget matters but also foreign policy. i think you'll see a lot more depth in terms of the conversation on thursday than you did four years ago. >> carrie dan, thank you and good luck out there. >> thanks a lot. the upcoming debate puts the vice presidential nominees in the spotlight. we have heard from our campaign embeds on how the nominees are preparing. so what is at stake in the vice presidential debate? joining me is matt visor, the national political reporter for "the boston globe," and erin mcpike, political reporter for real clear politics. thanks to you both. mike, let's start with you. the "national journal" points strengths is that he is a fresh face. that gives a lot of opportunity coming into something where you can introduce yourself to the country. and on a big stage, the downside i think for paul vine the inexperience on such a stage. he's really not only been on the national stage debating, but even on a congressional level, he hasn't had a competitive race since his first one in 1996. so i think he's got a lot of catching up to do in terms of just being on that type of a stage. >> paul ryan's also running for re-election in wisconsin for congress. state law allows him to do that as well as running for the vice presidency, but what challenges does that present? >> it's just that it can look bad. but i would also point out that joe biden also was running for re-election for the senate in delaware when he was brarack obama's running mate four years ago. so this is a pretty commonplace thing to do. >> all right, matt visor from "the boston globe" and erin mcpike from real clear politics, thank you both. >> thank you. coming up, new polls out today show mitt romney with a double-digit deficit in his running mate's home state. we will give you the latest spread on that. but first, which president obama is preparing to emerge at the next debate? we'll talk to his campaign's vice chairwoman, next. this is msnbc. ♪