Gov. Mitt Romney has spent countless hours prepping for tonight's presidential debate -- reading briefing books, performing in mock debates, listening to trusted aides' advice, and reportedly memorizing zingers. But it's doubtful that the Republican presidential nominee has reached out to Rep. Todd Akin's (R-Mo.) spokesman Rick Tyler.
Tyler is perhaps most memorable for his rant against the press early in the Republican primary when he worked for GOP candidate Newt Gingrich. Tyler wrote after Gingrich's drubbing on "Meet The Press": "The literati sent out their minions to do their bidding ... Washington cannot tolerate threats from outsiders who might disrupt their comfortable world. The firefight started when the cowardly sensed weakness." That opening salvo may have been more memorable than any line in Romney's convention speech.
Maybe Romney could use some of Tyler's fiery rhetoric. Maybe not. Either way Tyler is ready with the verbal ammo, and he was willing to share it in an interview with The Huffington Post. "[Romney] needs to be able to demonstrate how Obama's economic policies are like designing a lead airplane," Tyler offered. "They keep adding lead and it's not going to fly."
Tyler said he thinks Romney should bring up Obama's foreign policy -- one of the president's perceived strengths. Obama may have drawn down two wars, Tyler said, but he's "ignited six others."
"We've got one now in Libya that started with the death of the ambassador," Tyler said. "We got the Egyptian protest where they bridged our embassy. There's an uprising in Sudan. There's missiles being fired from Turkey into Syria."
That's only four.
"We can say the same thing about Yemen," Tyler continued. "I'm using the number six as hyperbole. But I suppose you can add Iran in there."
The one thing Tyler said Romney shouldn't mention is the now-infamous 47 percent video. "If I were him, I wouldn't bring it up," he admitted. "In debates, you try to play from a position of strength."
[HuffPost Live will stream the debate tonight at 9 p.m. ET. Click here for more information.]