Note: CJAD 800 will be carrying Tuesday night's U.S. presidential debate live, starting at 9:00pm.

A feistier, flintier Barack Obama is apparently ready to come out swinging in Tuesday's prime-time debate with Mitt Romney, keen to make up for a disengaged performance two weeks ago that helped fuel his Republican rival's ascent in the polls.

``We know that the president is his own harshest critic and he knows that Mitt Romney had a better debate,'' Jen Psaki, Obama's travelling press secretary, said Monday at the posh Virginia resort where the president has been undergoing intense debate preparation.

Psaki, however, offered few specifics about how the president has been boning up for the high-stakes showdown, a town-hall style event that will feature questions from the audience. It's being held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY.

``He's looking forward to answering questions from the American people tomorrow night.... He's calm and energized and just looking forward to getting to New York.''

More than 67 million Americans tuned into the first debate on Oct. 3 in Denver.

An equally mammoth audience was expected to take in Tuesday night's showdown, moderated by CNN's Candy Crowley amid reported concerns from each campaign about the newswoman's stated intention to ask tough questions.

``Once the table is kind of set by the town-hall questioner, there is then time for me to say 'Hey, wait a second, what about X,
Y, Z?''' Crowley said on CNN last week.

Those types of comments from Crowley have sounded alarm bells for both campaigns, Time magazine reported Monday.

Together, lawyers for both teams sent a memo to the Commission of Presidential Debates to express their concerns, hoping the moderator doesn't ask more questions than audience members.

Obama was being shielded by his campaign from those types of headaches on the eve of the Tuesday debate. Reporters were kept well away from the president on Monday as he crammed with members of his team, including Sen. John Kerry, standing in once again for Romney.

The president himself has said he's determined to do a much better job in debate No. 2.