Word: stand-in
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...restraint to avoid droning on, showing off or Beltway bloviating. Given the reality of gender politics and the Senator's tendency for familiar glad-handing, Biden is in particular danger of saying something perceived as condescending or sexist to Palin. Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm has been serving as a stand-in to simulate the dynamic he will face, and Biden has reportedly sought out advice from Senate colleagues like Hillary Clinton, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein on how best to avoid any appearance of sexism in the way he interacts with Palin onstage...
...good stand-in needs to know a lot more than what words an opponent is likely to use. Another Republican stand-in playing Gore in 2000, former Ohio Rep. Rob Portman, noticed that in a previous debate Gore had left his stool and approached Bill Bradley during an answer - "seeming to try a little physical intimidation to rattle him," Portman says...
Another role for the stand-in, experts say, is to make candidates comfortable going up against rivals - and not just rhetorically. "For Dan Quayle I put on a golf sweater, put a golf tee behind my ear and twirled a putter," says former Ohio Rep. Dennis Eckart, who worked with Democratic Vice Presidential candidates Lloyd Bentsen in 1988 and Gore in 1992. "It broke the tension...
While a good sparring partner can help prepare a smooth retort or well-planned zinger, a bad stand-in can damage a performance...
Before Quayle's infamous 1988 debate with Lloyd Bentsen, stand-in Bob Packwood assured Quayle that Bentsen was a courteous man who wouldn't be rough on the young Senator, Schroeder says...