Jeffe and Jeffe evaluate the November election

Married political analysts Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, of NBC4 in Los Angeles and USC, and Doug Jeffe, a consultant in private practice, travel in the same political circles and have plenty of informed opinions when you run into them around town. But they don't pundit-ize in print together very often, I don't believe. So it's noticed that they have a double-signer up at Fox and Hounds Daily, offering ten "defining moments that will shape the election outcome." Their important moments begin this week in Tampa.

Governor Chris Christie’s keynote address to the GOP convention will undoubtedly lay out the case against the Obama Administration. He is likely to generate a great deal of heat and rev up the base. What remains to be seen is whether he will display well-honed prosecutorial chops or come off as a heavy-handed Tony Soprano who turns off undecided voters.

Governor Romney’s acceptance speech gives him the opportunity to introduce himself to the American people without the filter of the news media. His challenge is to come off as a likeable father figure, with whom Americans can feel comfortable in their living rooms for the next four years. It is also his chance to articulate an economic agenda that offers some meat, along with the promises.

And the Democrats' gathering next week will have it share of defining moments, the Jeffes argue.

Bill Clinton’s address to the Democratic convention could be pivotal. The former President presided over much happier times, when the economy hummed and deficits were turned into surpluses. He has the credibility to make the case that Republican policies caused the Great Recession and that President Obama’s policies are slowly digging us out of a huge hole. He can ask whether voters want to give the car keys back to the folks who drove us into the ditch.

In his acceptance speech, President Obama has a tough act to follow–not Romney or Clinton, but his own speech four years ago and his keynote address in 2004. Expectations will be sky high and anything less than a soaring enunciation of his vision for the next four years will be considered a downer.

Plus six more, over there.