(CNN) – President Barack Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney go head to head for the first time Wednesday night, taking the stage in Denver for this cycle's inaugural presidential debate. After spending days in preparation and raising expectations for their respective opponent, both candidates will have the chance to make their case with a little more than one month before Election Day.
Tune in to get minute-by-minute updates throughout the evening, including trivia, fact-checks, polls, and tweets.
From CNN Politics
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Romney looked very presidential and poised. He helped the Repubican cause and did not come off as a right wing radical. He was impressive and articulate. He has a chance without promising to grow government.
Romney is ahead in this debate.....just sayin.......
Closing statements. Two minutes each. Obama will babble and say nothing substantial. Again. Bet ya a beer.
Obama has only had 4 years to fix the mess the Bush boys left behind in their 16 yrs as president.
JIM interrupted Rommey many times with comments and argument he never ever did to obama plus he gave him a lot more time to answer
Ben, as a physician, i can tell the you that the private vs federal admin cost statement is true. Obamacare is finanacially MUCH better for all of our communities and I wiah that patients were better informed so that they knew this.
Wait, which one is the President?
Obama is doing just fine. He cannot reverse 8 years in 4. Rome was not built in a day.
Why would any decent, married man being go to work, if they can avoid it, on the night of their 20th wedding anniversary? You mean to tell me they couldn't have scheduled this tomorrow night? I think Obama thought he would get sympathy points for showing up for the debate on the night of his 20th. I think it shows total lack of respect towards his wife and warped priorities. My 20th is 7 years away, and i will be sure to ask for the day off a year in advance!
Romney is doing the Bush thing and trying to look friendly and all. He talks well, but there really isn't anything to substantiate what he says he'll do. Say anything to get the job done. He knows how to spin. But does he know how to truly care about us?
In response to CL, the President hasn't had enough cooperation from Congress to get things done. They've been acting like children. He's done well considering having to deal with the game of politics. And FYI, it usually takes 2 terms to see the payoff or undo the damage of previous administrations. He's still unravelling the Bush era.
Mr. Obama sounded sincere and presidential. Great leaders are thoughtful like the president and not aggressive and argumentative.
There's a reason the president is the president and it's really showing tonight. Willard has not once talked to the American people tonight. He keeps talking directly to the president and not looking into the camera. Not presidential at all. I don't think he understands the president will NOT be voting for him, WE WILL. On the other hand, the president is talking DIRECTLY TO US as he knows Willard will not be voting for him, and there is no need to speak directly with him.
The president has to be GAINING voters tonight because not only is he giving us FACTS and DETAILS he speaking to US. Willard has failed his first debate and the audience will come away still not knowing what exactly he plans to do for us.
Obama 1
Willard 0
Pres. Obama appears cool and smoth with his answers, Romney appears to be a bully, over anxious and suffering from anxiety. Romney is so out of touch with reality. If uare 54 yrs old as Romney said, Look Out, no medicare for you !!!
Umm... Because he has been dealing with it... If you had't noticed, he is kind of the president....
Romney has been extremely disrespectful throughout this debate. Jim needs to be a stronger facilitator. Highly disappointing with the facilitation tonight.
Obama got owned.
Health care is in trouble. The costs are astronomical.
No family should go broke over health care costs. Low income families (below $50,000 per year) must be covered for health care free of charge.
Enroll them in Medicare free.
I believe Obama on the money corporations will make if Mitt gets his way with vouchers on Medicare. He doesn't care about retired people and we know it. He thinks they are not as worthy as rich executives and who cares if they have health care. Private insurance is too expensive for most seniors to be in their 50's
Obama killed osama # 4 more years
I am not biased and was still undecided until now. We need a good president the next four years. The President is not looking at Romney and looking down because he is taking notes? It does not matter anyway what they look at, how they speak, how much emotion they put into it. Just listen to their words.
I still don't understand why the President hasn't done what he said he has been proposing. He had 4 years.
Maybe I am inpatient. Maybe we in America expect too much. Maybe we Americans just expect our President to be able to do what he promised. We are on the verge of another recession again (just look at the gdp the past qtrs).
Closing the Deficit? You had 4 years, Mr. President. The deficit only grew the last 4 years. Should I trust you again?
I don't think so. Right now, my vote is Romney after this debate.
Right now, my vote is Romney after this debate.
The president did a great job as always. Romney is way above the average American and not on their level. Go Mr. President, keep up the great work
Just who got us into this economic mess in the first place? Reagan, Daddy Bush, W and the rest. 3 bank draining wars just so Halliburton and the other fat cats could make billions. A trillion dollars given away by big tax breaks to the wealthiest among us. The corporations and the elites are stealing your future, giving your jobs to the Chinese while sheltering their billions in offshore tax havens. Wake up Joe the plumbers unless you’re in the 1% you’re in the 99%. Vote for the guy you think will help your situation, not the guy that's going to help the rich get richer, all in the false hope that the rich will then take care of you like a little child. There is no such thing as trickle down. Got that. Look at what's happened to the middle class since Reagan came up with this Ponzi scheme called trickle down. You can't expect anyone to fix that in 4 years and you certainly don't want someone else in the Whitehouse that believes in all this trickle down fairytale nonsense.
HeatherW I'm so happy that my vote will be cancelling yours... I don't mind taking one for team Mitt.
He's not just the right cause but in this race, he's the only cause. .
Obama is showing his true colors. Mitt is embarrsing Obama. You can tell Obama is flustered. His filler of "ohh" has been said more than all other word Obama has said. I was a toss going into tonight, but I want someone to run my country that has the intelligence to speak like a professional. Hearing Obama speak without a speech that has been written for him. I hear someone that presents his stance worse that George W. Bush did. Mitt wins and carried himself like a class act.
I have ALWAYS been a Democrat, but Barack is completely OFF tonight. If I hear him say one more time that teachers or other workers are TRAINED rather than education (he has said that at least 20 times tonight). Dogs, although I shudder at the idea, are TRAINED. People are educated. EVERYTHING about Obama's education plan suggests that he and Duncan think that TRAINING is what we do. He just said it again in final comments. WE DON'T TRAIN people. His arrognace suggests that someone else knows how to TRAIN all of us. I didn't ever hear Romney say the nasty word training. I think Obama is detached about how people learn and progress.