Of course Steve is spooked.

Tom Mulcair has shown his skills in Question Period and will wipe the floor with Steve unless the latter is allowed to lie and get away with it. Justin Trudeau has been underrated. He was a debater in university and will likely hold his own too unless Steve is allowed to lie his head off. Just as Romney had done in the first Presidential debate and Obama stupidly failed to call out his lies.

Hence Steve must be very afraid that debating in a fair venue is going to show him out. Harper has very little integrity as the last nine years has shown us. In a Cons friendly environment, the moderator can disallow any attempts by the other debators to call out his lies. If Mulcair and Trudeau are both not cognizant of this, then they deserve to lose.