In a memo about the debates distributed to campaign surrogates and provided to CNN on Thursday, longtime Romney adviser Beth Myers outlines a series of reasons why the president is likely to emerge as the winner of the first debate.

Among them:

– President Obama is “widely regarded as one of the most talented political communicators in modern history.”

– “This will be the eighth one-on-one presidential debate of his political career. For Mitt Romney, it will be his first.”

– “Four years ago, Barack Obama faced John McCain on the debate stage. According to Gallup, voters judged him the winner of each debate by double-digit margins, and their polling showed he won one debate by an astounding 33-point margin.”

Myers argues that Obama will “use his ample rhetorical gifts and debating experience to one end: attacking Mitt Romney.”

“We fully expect a 90-minute attack ad aimed at tearing down his opponent,” she writes in the memo.

Pushing back against emerging conventional wisdom, Myers concludes that the debates will not, in fact, decide the election: “It will be decided by the American people,” she says.

That’s optimism for ya.