Live blog: First debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney

by Boston.comon Oct 3, 2012 at 11:56 PM
Here's a recap of the analysis and fact checks from The Boston Globe and Boston.com during the debate.
Staff contributors:
Boston.com Politics Editor Glen Johnson Politics reporter Callum BorchersWashington Bureau Deputy Chief Michael Kranish Business reporter Megan Woolhouse
Business reporter Robert Weisman Health reporter Chelsea Conaboy
Business reporter Beth Healy
Reader comments have a blue background.
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Globe political reporter Matt Viser's preview of the presidential debate tonight:
President Obama and Mitt Romney’s first debate is centered on domestic policy, which could allow Romney to hammer away at Obama’s handling of the economy. >> Full story -
After months of dueling attack ads and long-distance sparring, President Obama and Mitt Romney spent the last hours before Wednesday’s debate paying attention to the smallest details that could impact the biggest event of the campaign so far.
They walked through the sports arena where they will debate beginning at 9 p.m. at the University of Denver. They reviewed briefing books and policy positions. Aides and surrogates busied themselves by trying to lower expectations for their candidates in a debate that is expected to be watched by 50 million Americans. >> Full story (Brian MacQuarrie and Matt Viser, Globe staff) -
Boston Globe Correspondent Callum Borchers reports that two third-party presidential candidates will participate in an expanded version of tonight’s debate between President Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney on satellite TV and online.
Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson will respond to the same questions posed to Obama and Romney on Democracy Now!, which will show the Obama-Romney debate, but pause after the major-party candidates’ responses to allow Stein and Anderson to deliver their own remarks. -


RT @dgjackson: Great photo of Gov and Mrs. Romney p.twimg.com
by Matt Viser via twitter 10/3/2012 11:39:16 PM -
The Globe and Boston.com have multiple ways for you to follow the debate tonight. See them all here: bo.stby Matt Viser via twitter 10/3/2012 11:44:43 PM -
90 minutes before the debate, Harry Reid goes after Romney on the Dream Act, calling him "out of touch with the nation in which he lives.”by Matt Viser via twitter 10/3/2012 11:46:59 PM -
If Romney starts calling Obama "professor" and criticizing him for claiming to be Native American, we'll know debate prep went badly awry.by Matt Viser via twitter 10/3/2012 11:55:01 PM -
RT @EmilyABC: Romney has arrived on site at the Denver debate.by Glen Johnson via twitter 10/4/2012 12:01:56 AM -

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RT @MaeveReston: Storm rolling into Denver pre-debate as Romney arrived p.twimg.com
by Glen Johnson via twitter 10/4/2012 12:03:04 AM -
RT @michaelscherer: Weather in Denver today was 80 and sunny. Then candidates/press/circus arrived. Snow forecast for tonight.by Glen Johnson via twitter 10/4/2012 12:03:32 AM -
RT @markknoller: McCurry says total of 140 presidential candidates nationwide - but only 2 are meet Debate Commission eligibility standards.by Glen Johnson via twitter 10/4/2012 12:04:16 AM -
RT @ZekeJMiller: FWIW, Rob Portman will watch the debate from backstage in the surrogate hold room. John Kerry isn't even in Colorado.by Matt Viser via twitter 10/4/2012 12:10:15 AM -

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Amid all the pre-debate analysis, this New Yorker cartoon is a reporter's thought bubble: will tonight be by the script or will it surprise? www.newyorker.com -

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RT @nytjim: RT @baratunde: Oh wow @JoeBiden will be livetweeting the #debates!!!by Matt Viser via twitter 10/4/2012 12:18:23 AM -
President Obama and Mitt Romney enter the final formative stage of their campaign tonight when they square off in the first of three nationally televised debates.
The incumbent Democrat and his Republican challenger will meet for 90 minutes at the University of Denver in a debate sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Jim Lehrer of PBS will moderate. An audience of up to 50 million is expected to watch.
The debate will be shown live on network television and C-Span. Boston.com, BostonGlobe.com, and "Political Intelligence" offer this live blog to chronicle the pre-debate hype and the debate itself.
All three also will offer contemporaneous fact-checking and analysis from Globe reporters expert in various fields, creating a unique “second-screen” experience for viewers seeking additional context for what they are seeing on TV.
The blog also will serve as a window into the debate for those not near a TV.
Obama and Romney also will debate Oct. 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., and Oct. 22 at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.
Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan will have a single debate, on Oct. 11 at Centre College in Danville, Ky. -
CAMPAIGN 2012: Obama motorcade arrives at debate site...by Glen Johnson via twitter 10/4/2012 12:23:59 AM -

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Hi, I'm Rob Weisman. I cover health care business for The Globe, Boston.com, and BostonGlobe.com. I'll be interested to see how much the Massachusetts health care law, signed by former Gov. Mitt Romney in 2006, figures into the debate -- if at all.
The law is widely seen in the state as a success, and the model for President Obama's national health care overhaul. Both candidates, for different reasons, don't seem to want to talk much about health care and the laws they sponsored. -
RT @dgjackson: Backstage with family playing jenga. p.twimg.comby Matt Viser via twitter 10/4/2012 12:31:33 AM -
RT @BostonGlobe: In ’02, Romney capitalized on debates. Parallels to this yr can be instructive. b.globe.com story by @mviserby Matt Viser via twitter 10/4/2012 12:32:07 AM -
The president has arrived at the debate hall.
And the Romney campaign is already e-mailing about its “rapid-response” site.
In fairness, the Obama campaign is up and running, too.
For those watching at home, consider this: Tonight is the 20th wedding anniversary for Barack and Michelle Obama. -
Longtime Romney adviser Peter Flaherty is on hand wearing his lucky tie (the one with lions on it) that he saves for big occasions.by Matt Viser via twitter 10/4/2012 12:38:36 AM -
Greetings, I'm Meg Woolhouse. I cover economic news for The Boston Globe, Boston.com, and BostonGlobe.com. I'll be especially interested to hear -- and parse -- the candidates' views of Mitt Romney's tenure as governor of Massachusetts. Hopefully we'll also learn more about both candidates' job creation and economic recovery plans tonight as well! -
RT @PeterHambyCNN: there is video of Mitt Romney playing Jenga www.youtube.comby Matt Viser via twitter 10/4/2012 12:40:23 AM -
Audience told their seats can disappear. "If you break the rules, a button will be pushed, and you’ll be swimming with the fishes."by Matt Viser via twitter 10/4/2012 12:41:39 AM -
The Romney campaign’s “body man,” candidate personal aide Garrett Jackson, is tweeting pictures of the governor at his hotel with grandkids this afternoon, riding to the debate with Ann as they hold hands, and, now, backstage watching the grandkids play “Jenga.” -
Hi all, I'm Chelsea Conaboy. I cover health care for the Globe and on the White Coat Notes blog on Boston.com. I'm anxious to see a fuller conversation about the federal health law and its relationship to the state's 2006 law. As Rob said, while the broader national debate has focused a lot on the Affordable Care Act, the candidates have not spent much time on it to date.
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Ann Romney and Michelle Obama hug one another. Words do not appear to have been exchanged.by Matt Viser via twitter 10/4/2012 12:49:02 AM -

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"If you hear something terrific, SIT ON IT," Jim Leher tells audience. "If you hear something you don't like, SIT ON IT." Crowd silenced.by Matt Viser via twitter 10/4/2012 12:52:29 AM -

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Gov watches the tv as @anndromney takes her seat. t.co
by dgjackson via twitter 10/4/2012 12:53:50 AM -

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So after watching all the networks do their pre-debate analysis, who won?by Matt Viser via twitter 10/4/2012 12:57:31 AM -
2 minutes RT @tackettdc: How long into debate before Romney says Happy Anniversary?by Matt Viser via twitter 10/4/2012 12:59:00 AM -
ANALYSIS: The stakes for Mitt Romney in tonight’s debate are, as they say in Denver, a mile high. Challengers usually have more at stake in a debate, and they can gain or lose much in a single sentence.
Romney knows this well; his father, George, famously withdrew from his 1968 presidential campaign after saying he had been brainwashed by US generals in Vietnam. Mitt Romney has learned – some would so over-learned – that lesson. When he veers off script, he has had problems. But a debate that seems to be scripted might not be enough for him. So he has spent weeks preparing for off-the-cuff attacks, as contradictory as that may sound. His team wants him to stay on message without seeming to be reading from a script.
Romney is a practiced debater. This will be Romney’s 20th debate in this campaign, with the others coming in the Republican primaries. He has not had a one-on-one debate in a general election since his 2002 gubernatorial race against Shannon O’Brien.
Obama, while perceived by many to be the better debater, has not had nearly as much live practice recently; the president has not been in a debate since 2008, when he faced Republican nominee John McCain. The challenge for both men is clear: they will be trying to show that they understand the concerns of everyday Americans in a difficult economy. Obama and Romney will be standing across from each, lobbing attacks and counter-attacks, but their mission is to try to connect in a personal way to the television viewers they cannot see, and win over the voters who will determine who is inaugurated in January.

