It is easy to hype certain moments in a campaign for the White House, but the next week will be a crucial period, as the two major party candidates square off in a pair of debates with the clock running down on the 2012 campaign.

The next debate is Tuesday at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York; the final debate is Monday October 22 at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.

We have already seen how the first debate in early October changed this race, after Mitt Romney took it to President Obama, and how Obama's poll numbers sank nationally and in a series of swing states.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize the importance of these next two meetings.

Both Romney and Obama spent Sunday off the campaign trail getting ready for Tuesday night's town hall debate, which will be moderated by Candy Crowley of CNN.

"It is going great," President Obama said of his debate prep when asked by reporters on Sunday in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Democrats certainly hope so, because a repeat performance of earlier this month in Denver is not what Democrats want.

Over the weekend, the Romney campaign put out another ad based on the Vice President's debate from last week:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/vice-presidential-debate-cold-open/1420805/

We also saw Saturday Night Live take on both Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/vice-presidential-debate-cold-open/1420805/

With thoughts of real commercials and late night comedy, as these next two debates arrive, how aggressive should the President be? How should Mitt Romney respond?

Put on your hat as a campaign strategist and see if you game out how Tuesday's debate will go.