President Obama’s campaign team is working hard to raise expectations regarding Mitt Romney’s debate performance but lower expectations for Obama.

“Well, he could fall off the stage,” Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki cracked on Air Force One when asked to describe the worst-case scenario for Obama’s debate performance.

Psaki also said Obama hasn’t had as much time as he wanted to prepare for the debates. “The president will have some time to prepare and he’s been doing some studying, but it is certainly less than we have anticipated because of events in the Middle East, because of his busy travel schedule — because of just the constraints of governing,” she said. So it is less than we originally planned.”

She suggested that Romney “has been preparing earlier and with more focus than any presidential candidate in modern history.”