Tonight  President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney go head-to-head once  more in the 2nd Presidential Debate. Already there is controversy  stirring over the debate which will not air for another 8 hours. But the  controversy is not about either of the candidates, but rather about the  moderator, Candy Crowley.

Crowley  will be the 1st female moderator of a presidential debate in 20 years.  She is also only the 2nd woman to take on this task. Crowley, as many  may know, is a respected political reporter and host of CNN's State of  the Union each Sunday morning.

Both  campaigns have raised issue with some of the remarks she has made in  promos for CNN leading up to the debate. The campaigns say that Crowley  should be there as pretty much a bystander or a traffic cop keeping the  debate moving, but not doing any follow-up questioning. The debate is a  town hall format with the questions comng from about 80 undecided  voters. Crowley, however, sees it as her responsibility to follow-up or  make sure the candidates answer the questions posed by the voters.

I  believe Crowly should stand her ground and when needed to dig into the  candidates' responses especially when those responses tend to be more  deflection than answering what is asked.

As  to the debate itself, let's first break down the details and what  others are saying we should be on people's radar during the face-off.

The details:

Second presidential debate (October 16, 2012, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY)

The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in  which citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and  domestic issues. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and  an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion. The  town meeting participants will be undecided voters selected by the  Gallup Organization.

http://debates.org/index.php?page=format

The Associated Press offers these 5 points to consider:

1. A REBOUND?
2. MAN OF THE PEOPLE?
3. MORE CIVIL?
4. THE PEOPLE SPEAK
5. MORE THAN WORDS

You can read there breakdown of the points at: http://commercialappeal.com/news/2012/oct/16/5-things-watch-presidential-debate

The Washington Post's The Fix gives these insights:

* Can Obama find a groove?
* Obama’s ‘porridge’ question
* Winning once is hard; winning twice is harder
* WWCCD (What will Candy Crowley Do?)
* The town hall test

The Fix's thinking can be read at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/10/16/what-to-watch-for-in-the-second-presidential-debate

Then we have these suggestions from CNN:

1. Connecting with the audience
2. Find a warm place
3. Getting women's issues into the conversation
4. Strong performance pays off -- literally
5. Watch out for the wild card

More on CNN's take: http://cnn.com/2012/10/16/politics/debate-five-things/index.html

What I will be hoping to hear tonight:

1.  What about Benghazi and Hillary? - Will any of the audience or Romney  bring up the issue of the intelligence failure that lead to the murder  of 4 Americans and reaction to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton  falling on her sword for the Obama Administration?

2.  The 47% - Will the President  or any of the audience question Romney on  his remarks about the 47% which he stated in a secret video that he is  not "worried about"?

3.  Jobs - Will the undecided voters press the candidates on how they will  go about creating jobs in the US and get the economy moving at a more  robust pace?

4.  Medicare and Social Security - Will the questioners hit both candidates  on specifics to reform the programs to ensure viability for future  generations?

5.  Specifics - Will either of the candidates provide more specifics on  what his administration hopes to accomplish over the next 4 years?

Those are the points which I hope to hear addressed in tonight's debate.

I  think it is highly unlikely that the debate will have a clear-cut  winner, but most likely will be claimed a win by both sides. Personally,  I think the most likely outcome will be a draw.

I  do not believe that there will be much notable difference in the polls  than what we have been seeing over the last 2 weeks. This race will most  likely go to the wire and be a photo finish.

From the Cornfield, there's my preview. What's on your mind as we wait for the debate to kick off at 9 p.m. ET?