Both British candidates hire Obama advisors for TV debate prep

Both sides in Britain’s national elections are looking to capture a little bit of the Obama magic in a series of upcoming televised debates:

David Cameron has hired two of President Obama’s former advisers to help him to prepare for the televised debates due to be held before the election. Anita Dunn, a former White House communications director, and Bill Knapp, who has worked on the past four US Democratic Party presidential campaigns, will also advise the Tory leader on general strategy.[…]

Gordon Brown, meanwhile, is being advised by Joel Benenson , a pollster and strategist who helped to prepare Mr Obama for his TV showdowns with John McCain. Labour has also received help from David Axelrod, Mr Obama’s senior adviser, and David Plouffe, his former campaign chief.

Thanks to prime minister’s questions, British party leaders have plenty of experience with televised verbal jousting, but American-style debates are an entirely different beast. From an outsider’s perspective, the younger more dynamic Cameron would appear to have the upper hand, though the polls do appear to be narrowing.