CNN

Obama and McCain are starting to prepare for the upcoming debates.

(CNN) - The presidential candidates face their first debate Friday in Oxford, Mississippi and both are taking time off the campaign trail to prepare.

While the Obama campaign confirmed that Barack Obama will be prepping this week in Tampa, Florida, the Republican presidential hopeful has a different approach.

A source inside the McCain campaign says the Arizona senator has been prepping on the campaign trail for the past several weeks and took time Saturday to prepare. This source says as of now, John McCain is not expected to take days off before Friday's debate to prep.

One other item of note: Greg Craig, a former State Department official under President Clinton and a longtime Obama supporter is reportedly playing the role of John McCain in the Illinois senator's debate practices.