First debate sets up moment of high-risk theater
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DENVER (AP) - President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney come face to face for the first time in this presidential campaign Wednesday night for a nationally televised debate that will give millions of Americans a chance to size up two fierce competitors in a moment of high-risk theater.
Romney, trailing in polls in a number of key states and running short on time to reverse his fortunes, is angling for a breakout performance in the three 90-minute presidential debates scheduled over the next three weeks.
Obama, well aware that the remaining five weeks of the race still offer enough time for tectonic shifts in his prospects, is determined to avoid any campaign-altering mistakes as he presses his case for a second term.
A pre-debate skirmish Tuesday over Vice President Joe Biden's passing reference to "a middle class that has been buried the last four years" demonstrated how just a few words can mushroom into something larger during a heated contest for the White House.
Wednesday's 9 p.m. EDT faceoff between Obama and Romney on domestic policy at the University of Denver is sure to offer a blend of choreography and spontaneity: Obama was selected to get the first question in a coin toss. Both men have spent hours rehearsing smart lines and pithy comebacks with proxy opponents - yet know to expect the unexpected.
"That's what so tricky about this," says Alan Schroeder, author of a book on presidential debates. "There's never a template for preparing because each one takes its own direction."
The central role of the economy in this election is evident in the topics selected for the first three of the night's six debate segments: The Economy I, The Economy II and The Economy III. The last three segments will focus on health care, the role of government and governing.
The candidates planned to visit the debate site Wednesday afternoon, Romney about an hour before Obama, then both planned down time at their hotels before the main event. Romney's aides said he reviewed briefing books and policy earlier Wednesday at his Denver hotel.
Romney has pinned his campaign on the argument that Obama has failed to adequately juice up the U.S. economy, but his challenge is reflected in recent polls showing growing public optimism about the economy and the president's leadership. His case got tougher after a secret video revealed Romney telling donors that it's not his job to care about the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes and believe they are victims.
Romney tried to address accusations that he doesn't care about those voters with a new ad Wednesday in which the casually dressed candidate looks at the camera and acknowledges the struggles of Americans living paycheck to paycheck. "We should measure our compassion by how many of our fellow Americans are able to get good-paying jobs, not how many are on welfare. My economic plan will get America back to work and strengthen the middle class," he says.
Former President Bill Clinton told a rally at the University of New Hampshire in Durham on Wednesday that many of those who don't pay federal income taxes are working families that both parties have agreed should not have to raise their children in poverty. He said the criticism of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes is ironic coming from a man who holds accounts in the Cayman Islands.
"You've got to give him credit," Clinton said. "When you bust somebody for doing what you did, it takes a lot of gall, you know?"
Republicans tried to frame the economic debate in their terms by pointing to the vice president's comments in North Carolina about the beleaguered middle class as an unwitting acknowledgment that Obama's economic policies have devastated average Americans.
"Over the last four years the American middle class has been buried," Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said to laughter and cheers before several hundred supporters in Denver. "Those aren't my words. Those happen to be the words of the distinguished vice president of the united states, Joe Biden."
Obama's camp countered that it was the policies of the president's Republican predecessors that had caused the damage.
Biden, at a later campaign event Tuesday, was careful to say that "the middle class was buried by the policies that Romney and Ryan supported," calling their economic plans an amped-up rework of those from the George W. Bush years.
Romney calls Wednesday's debate the beginning of a monthlong "conversation with the American people," and the debates do tend to consume much of the political oxygen for several crucial weeks.
The candidates will be speaking to a TV audience of tens of millions in one of those rare moments when a critical mass of Americans collectively fix their attention on one event. Fifty-two million people tuned in to the first debate four years ago, and 80 percent of the nation's adults reported watching at least a bit of the debates between Obama and Republican John McCain in 2008.
The two campaigns on Wednesday announced new websites - http://debates.mittromney.com and http://barackobama.com/debate - to respond to their opponent in real time.
In a quadrennial pre-debate ritual, each campaign has worked overtime to raise expectations for the opponent while lowering the bar for its own candidate. The thinking is that it's better to exceed lukewarm expectations than to fail to perform at an anticipated level of great skill.
But both men are seasoned debaters: Obama has been here before, facing off with McCain in 2008. Romney hasn't gone one on one in a presidential debate, but he got plenty of practice thinking on his feet during 19 multicandidate debates held during the Republican primaries.
On a long day of debate prep - Romney in Denver and Obama in Henderson, Nev., near Las Vegas - both candidates tried to blow off some steam Tuesday. The president made a tourist's visit to nearby Hoover Dam, and Romney fit in a lunchtime outing to a Mexican grill for a burrito bowl.
The two candidates' biggest fans talked up their debating abilities in pre-debate interviews.
Michelle Obama told CNN she's like a nervous parent watching a child performing on the balance beam when her husband debates.
"I do tell him to have fun and relax and just be himself, because the truth is, if he's the Barack Obama the country has come to know and trust, he is going to do a great job," she said.
Ann Romney said her husband always looks around to find her in the debate audience and keeps a paper in front of him that says "Dad" - to remind him to make his father proud.
As for her advice, Mrs. Romney told KMGH-TV in Denver that she tells her husband: "Sweetie, you had five boys. You learned to argue really well and make your points years ago. Just go do that."
Wednesday's format: The moderator, PBS newsman Jim Lehrer, will open each 15-minute segment with a question, and Obama and Romney each will have two minutes to answer. After that, it's up to Lehrer to keep the conversation going and to intervene if one candidate goes on too long.
Obama and Romney have a two-track mission with debate viewers: Motivate core supporters to turn out and vote - at a time when early voting already is under way in many states - and try to lock in some new supporters from among the small subset of viewers who haven't settled on a candidate or whose support for one man or the other is squishy.
The viewers who matter most live in the contested battleground states that will determine which candidate gets to 270 electoral votes on Nov. 6: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and, to a lesser extent, Wisconsin.
Recent national polls show the two candidates in a tight race among likely voters. But Obama has the advantage in many of the battlegrounds, including Colorado.
Romney and Obama debate again Oct. 16 in Hempstead, N.Y., and Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla. Biden and Ryan have their lone debate on Oct. 11 in Danville, Ky.
Obama plans to use the first presidential debate as the hook for fundraisers and recruiting volunteers. Bill Clinton will be in Boston on Wednesday night for Obama, with donors paying $20,000 a person. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is headlining a New York fundraiser.
The Obama campaign plans more than 4,000 debate-watching events around the country. And Biden is scheduled to hold a live discussion with supporters that will be streamed online after the debate.
The Romney camp planned 336 debate parties at restaurants, bars, grills, VFW halls and other sites concentrated in battleground states.
Romney, trailing in polls in a number of key states and running short on time to reverse his fortunes, is angling for a breakout performance in the three 90-minute presidential debates scheduled over the next three weeks.
Obama, well aware that the remaining five weeks of the race still offer enough time for tectonic shifts in his prospects, is determined to avoid any campaign-altering mistakes as he presses his case for a second term.
A pre-debate skirmish Tuesday over Vice President Joe Biden's passing reference to "a middle class that has been buried the last four years" demonstrated how just a few words can mushroom into something larger during a heated contest for the White House.
Wednesday's 9 p.m. EDT faceoff between Obama and Romney on domestic policy at the University of Denver is sure to offer a blend of choreography and spontaneity: Obama was selected to get the first question in a coin toss. Both men have spent hours rehearsing smart lines and pithy comebacks with proxy opponents - yet know to expect the unexpected.
"That's what so tricky about this," says Alan Schroeder, author of a book on presidential debates. "There's never a template for preparing because each one takes its own direction."
The central role of the economy in this election is evident in the topics selected for the first three of the night's six debate segments: The Economy I, The Economy II and The Economy III. The last three segments will focus on health care, the role of government and governing.
The candidates planned to visit the debate site Wednesday afternoon, Romney about an hour before Obama, then both planned down time at their hotels before the main event. Romney's aides said he reviewed briefing books and policy earlier Wednesday at his Denver hotel.
Romney has pinned his campaign on the argument that Obama has failed to adequately juice up the U.S. economy, but his challenge is reflected in recent polls showing growing public optimism about the economy and the president's leadership. His case got tougher after a secret video revealed Romney telling donors that it's not his job to care about the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes and believe they are victims.
Romney tried to address accusations that he doesn't care about those voters with a new ad Wednesday in which the casually dressed candidate looks at the camera and acknowledges the struggles of Americans living paycheck to paycheck. "We should measure our compassion by how many of our fellow Americans are able to get good-paying jobs, not how many are on welfare. My economic plan will get America back to work and strengthen the middle class," he says.
Former President Bill Clinton told a rally at the University of New Hampshire in Durham on Wednesday that many of those who don't pay federal income taxes are working families that both parties have agreed should not have to raise their children in poverty. He said the criticism of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes is ironic coming from a man who holds accounts in the Cayman Islands.
"You've got to give him credit," Clinton said. "When you bust somebody for doing what you did, it takes a lot of gall, you know?"
Republicans tried to frame the economic debate in their terms by pointing to the vice president's comments in North Carolina about the beleaguered middle class as an unwitting acknowledgment that Obama's economic policies have devastated average Americans.
"Over the last four years the American middle class has been buried," Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said to laughter and cheers before several hundred supporters in Denver. "Those aren't my words. Those happen to be the words of the distinguished vice president of the united states, Joe Biden."
Obama's camp countered that it was the policies of the president's Republican predecessors that had caused the damage.
Biden, at a later campaign event Tuesday, was careful to say that "the middle class was buried by the policies that Romney and Ryan supported," calling their economic plans an amped-up rework of those from the George W. Bush years.
Romney calls Wednesday's debate the beginning of a monthlong "conversation with the American people," and the debates do tend to consume much of the political oxygen for several crucial weeks.
The candidates will be speaking to a TV audience of tens of millions in one of those rare moments when a critical mass of Americans collectively fix their attention on one event. Fifty-two million people tuned in to the first debate four years ago, and 80 percent of the nation's adults reported watching at least a bit of the debates between Obama and Republican John McCain in 2008.
The two campaigns on Wednesday announced new websites - http://debates.mittromney.com and http://barackobama.com/debate - to respond to their opponent in real time.
In a quadrennial pre-debate ritual, each campaign has worked overtime to raise expectations for the opponent while lowering the bar for its own candidate. The thinking is that it's better to exceed lukewarm expectations than to fail to perform at an anticipated level of great skill.
But both men are seasoned debaters: Obama has been here before, facing off with McCain in 2008. Romney hasn't gone one on one in a presidential debate, but he got plenty of practice thinking on his feet during 19 multicandidate debates held during the Republican primaries.
On a long day of debate prep - Romney in Denver and Obama in Henderson, Nev., near Las Vegas - both candidates tried to blow off some steam Tuesday. The president made a tourist's visit to nearby Hoover Dam, and Romney fit in a lunchtime outing to a Mexican grill for a burrito bowl.
The two candidates' biggest fans talked up their debating abilities in pre-debate interviews.
Michelle Obama told CNN she's like a nervous parent watching a child performing on the balance beam when her husband debates.
"I do tell him to have fun and relax and just be himself, because the truth is, if he's the Barack Obama the country has come to know and trust, he is going to do a great job," she said.
Ann Romney said her husband always looks around to find her in the debate audience and keeps a paper in front of him that says "Dad" - to remind him to make his father proud.
As for her advice, Mrs. Romney told KMGH-TV in Denver that she tells her husband: "Sweetie, you had five boys. You learned to argue really well and make your points years ago. Just go do that."
Wednesday's format: The moderator, PBS newsman Jim Lehrer, will open each 15-minute segment with a question, and Obama and Romney each will have two minutes to answer. After that, it's up to Lehrer to keep the conversation going and to intervene if one candidate goes on too long.
Obama and Romney have a two-track mission with debate viewers: Motivate core supporters to turn out and vote - at a time when early voting already is under way in many states - and try to lock in some new supporters from among the small subset of viewers who haven't settled on a candidate or whose support for one man or the other is squishy.
The viewers who matter most live in the contested battleground states that will determine which candidate gets to 270 electoral votes on Nov. 6: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and, to a lesser extent, Wisconsin.
Recent national polls show the two candidates in a tight race among likely voters. But Obama has the advantage in many of the battlegrounds, including Colorado.
Romney and Obama debate again Oct. 16 in Hempstead, N.Y., and Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla. Biden and Ryan have their lone debate on Oct. 11 in Danville, Ky.
Obama plans to use the first presidential debate as the hook for fundraisers and recruiting volunteers. Bill Clinton will be in Boston on Wednesday night for Obama, with donors paying $20,000 a person. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is headlining a New York fundraiser.
The Obama campaign plans more than 4,000 debate-watching events around the country. And Biden is scheduled to hold a live discussion with supporters that will be streamed online after the debate.
The Romney camp planned 336 debate parties at restaurants, bars, grills, VFW halls and other sites concentrated in battleground states.
Whoohooo!!! Â Can't wait to hear Romney talk out of both sides of his mouth with that platinum shovel sticking out.
It does not matter which party you vote for. It's not a vote it's an auction. There is only a very small margin of difference between the two, which both parties position to win. We do not live in a democracy. We live in a war state where elite bankers control the cash flow. America borrows from these elite bankers and pay back with interest. It is not in the interest of the Government to be the citizens voice, it hasn't been although on the surface they have fooled us all. We are not acting like citizens, but mere spectators. We have turned into mindless robotic consumers where we have attached self worth to companies and their products (just look at apple fanatics). We have been brainwashed into believing that we would be happier, smarter, better people if we had this or that. War state is what we are - meaning without war and propaganda for war and why war is good we would literally collapse. These two parties are no more for you then the company you work for. Debt is slavery, you are a number and your job is to consume forever giving back what you earned for crap you don't need! Every cash contributor to any campaign buys there seat in the white house. We are but fools.
Mitt Romney flip flopped again, this time yesterday on immigration. Apparently he no longer supports his own position of self deportation. He now supports Obama's 2 year visa deal. In other, clearly non related news, Romney trails Obama among Latino voters by 50 points.Â
 @caphillkidHis position is more an issue of him upholding the full faith and credit of the United States, imho. His stance is, if someone qualified for, and availed themselves to, a lawful program offered by the United States, he will not take it away. There is an argument that taking it would violate the 5th Amendment. Â
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He previously stated that he disagreed with Obama's policy, but that is an entirely different issue. In example, Romney can disagree with a proposed tax credit program that provides small businesses with a tax credit through 2014 if they hire full-time employees at a certain rate, but after it is in place, and citizens are relying on the program, he can state that he will not reverse the program if elected and not contradict his prior position.  Â
 @Fugonn  @caphillkid "His stance is, if someone qualified for, and availed themselves to, a lawful program offered by the United States, he will not take it away."
But that is exactly what he proposes to do with Obama Care.
Well I guess everyone thought Obama could work magic and pull us out of something that took many years to get us where we were. The only way he could have done that is to have lead us into another big war but instead he did what the people wanted and worked on ending a war. Now he gets no rewards for that or thanks from his people just a big slap in the face. One person can't do everything this country needs in 4 years it will take several Presidents to fix this mess.
Â
 @yoda Well said, yoda.
"judge you by your brain size will we"? The answer is a resounding "YES"!
 @yoda Obama could poop out pure gold and personally deliver it to these people and it wouldn't matter.Â
How are these two idiots spend on a campaign? The American people anything these elections will not change
 @Dozen 123 Huh?
@Darn it! This presidential election will not change anything,Both candidates will push the United States in a conflict with Iran because Izrael.
 @Dozen 123  @Darn Not.  How can you hope to achieve any credibility when you cannot spell Israel?  Romney is the only one doing any sabre rattling.
@TheBronze That punk is either in love with that guy's daughter or he has a newfound respect for life.
Popcorn!
This comment has been deleted
@tits, you can't help ignorance when ignorance is in the heart... good luck to you and "your" reality.
 @John Tits How can Romney argue the facts: Â
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Before President Obama took office the GDP growth rate was at -3.53%.  The president brought it up to 3.02%, and now at 1.7%.  GDP lost almost a half trillion dollars before Obama took office 14.2 to 13.8), and now it rocketed back up to 15 trillion.  Lastly, before Obama, national unemployment was at 10%.  Now it  is at 8.3%.  These are all public figures and can be verified on credible web resources.
Â
If you want a president that will provide instant gratification, you'll have to vote for someone like GWB. Â Someone who will wage war to prop up numbers. Â Our growth requires time to be healthy and solid.Â
@31F @John Tits -- Say what? When Obama took office in 2009 unemployment was 7.9%. It when up to 10% under his watch and only just came down to 8.1% in August this year. You might want to double check the other "facts" you've posted becuase I have and they are off as well.Â
@Bianca you are aware that the government, including the president does not have any direct control over the economy. We all knew it was going to get worse before it got better. There are certain things that must happen before the recovery can occur. If you look at the situation correctly, the Obama economy didn't start until he had been in office for about a year. Since then he has helped rebuild this country. But you don't know anything about that do you.
@caphillkid --- I never said it did. How about you reread what I wrote. When Obama took office in 2009, unemployment was 7.9%. The fact is there are more people unemployed today than there were January 2009. The "it's Bush's fault" argument is getting old. Clearly, if all Obama is going to do is blame Bush he needs to step aside and let someone else lead this country, because we need a leader not a man who is, after four failed years, still blaming Bush. I've said it before and will say it again, I agree Bush effed up. When will you agree Obama isn't doing any better? Four years from now? After you lost your house or your job? When???
 @Bianca Go look at the month by month unemployment numbers near the end of 2008 and the first months of 2009. That had nothing to do with Obama and you know it. John McCain even "suspended" his campaign in late 2008 because of the economy and the real possibility that our entire financial sector would collapse.Â
 @John Tits I do believe you got in most of the talking points, especially the debunked ones.
Barack "it still might be Bush's fault" Obama and Mitt "dizzy from flip flopping" Romney will square off to show America which clown is best suited for the job of president..
I love that they say "seasoned debators." My hubby and I both read that and looked at each other and said they were "Master debaters." Enjoy the debate!
There was a great write up on the use of "The Pivot" in debates. I wonder if anyone will do a count to see how many times each candidate used this to change the subject.Â
Â
http://www.npr.org/2012/10/03/162103368/how-politicians-get-away-with-dodging-the-question
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Specifically keep an eye on two things.
Romney will pivot to Obama a lot. By this, when asked what he will do about something, his answer will be some form of "What I won't do is what Obama did." And then go into an explanation of how Obama failed in some way.  Â
This is common for people running against an incumbent, especially when they are trailing in the polls. Â
Â
Example:
How will you create jobs?
Well, what I won't do, is waste a trillion dollars on deficit spending that produced no jobs.   Our deficit is out of control and it is crushing our ability to move forward as a country.  So the first thing we have to do is fix that problem.
Â
Obama will employ what is know as the Ransberger Pivot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransberger_Pivot)Â
He is rather devistating with it, and he has built most of his presidency with it.Â
Example:
How will you create jobs?
Mr. Romney is correct. Our deficit is a large problem. However, Mr. Romney suggests that we need more tax cuts for the wealthy. While I agree that more taxes arent always the solution, we have to get the deficit under control so that our country can invest in infrastructure which will mean more jobs for americans.Â
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In any event, it will be interesting to see how many times they each do it. The pressure though is on Romney. He is going into this debate with the label as being inconsistant (to say the least) and when he is not inconsistant, he is just vauge.Â
Â
If the only thing he does is pivot all night and offer no specifics, then his chances of winning the election just dropped to near zero, and the entire GOP campaign will shift to a focus on the Congressional races.   By this time next week, the whole stratagy fromt he GOP will be "don't give OBama an open checkbook in his second term."
Â
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@Star Shooter you really don't know a darn thing about elections do you.
 @Star Shooter Great post.
Romney money supporters are already pulling money from his campaign and giving it to Congressional races.
@Darn it! @Star Shooter of course they are, why back a loser.
 @Miller give up posting man?Â
Let's go OBAMA!Â
As in, "go away".
 @No Time Why would I want 30 straight months of job growth to "go away"? Consumer confidence in the economy jumped to its highest level in awhile. The stock market is at record high, the auto industry is alive and well, we have had 30 months of net job growth, and the housing market is showing real signs of recovery recently. It seems to me that as the economy is strengthening, Romney is weakening. The polls are showing Obama ahead, and with the debates coming up, I am sure we can look forward to 4 more years.The economic recovery is not nearly as slow as the hole was deep...
@John Tits @Chris Christensen @No Time you need to update your facts.
 change
 @John Tits That includes public sector jobs, many of which are state employees, not federal employees.
Â
It doesn't chance the fact that Obama has created more private sector jobs in 4 years than W Bush did in 8 years.Â
 @Chris Christensen  @Sid Vishess  @John Tits  @No Time "why would we want to go back to the same policies that caused the recession?" What policies?
It's funny, you say we are on our way because of Obama. Seems to me, though, that wages are still flat, the value of the dollar is at an all time low, and the things we buy with it continue to rise in price. How is that better?
 @Sid Vishess  @John Tits  @No Time Yes we all know we are still over 8% unemployment, we are in a recession. The main thing is we are slowly coming out of that recession. It took over 10 years to recover from the Great Depression, it's going to take over 3 years to recover from this recession, and we are heading in the right direction. Republicans just don't want to believe that. Come on, why would we want to go back to the same policies that caused the recession? Stop thinking of only the negative aspects of our economy because you are against Obama, think of the good and how far we've come since 2008...
 @Chris Christensen  @John Tits  @No Time I guess that record amount of 8%+ unemployment and record numbers out of the labor pool did sure fool us.
 @John Tits  @No Time The Daily Caller? That site was founded by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and Republican politician Neil Patel, obviously biased.Â
 @John Tits  @No Time We could go back and forth on the subject...
Â
Republicans voted against the stimulus that helped turned the economy around and also blocked the American Jobs Act. Because of that, job growth isn't where it should be today. But even so, over 5.1 million new private sector jobs have been created since 2008. Before Obama took office, the economy was losing 800,000 jobs a month. Obama IS a job creator, why is it so hard for republicans to take that in?Â
Â
http://www.inquisitr.com/345878/is-obama-a-job-creator-new-analysis-says-yes/
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http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/27/news/economy/obama-job-creation/index.html
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I wonder how this is going to go since the Romney camp as already stated that Obama should win the first debate.
Â
In reality, all Obama has to do is keep calm and keep the debate centered on the middle class.
Beware the communist union workers and communist looney leftist have already made all of their negative comments on this thread. Please do not listen to them, but watch the debate and see what each candidate has done in the past and is offering for the future.
@justsayin yes we should be careful not to be sucked in by this Communist movement? by the way, i do not want to buy your AMWAY products, so stop trying to sell them to me...thanks
 @justsayin Just an observation, but if you have to call someone a "communist" to make your point, then you never had a point to begin with.
Â
Its a subtle attempt to accuse someone of not being a real american just because they disagree with you. It goes back to the 40s, and it has gotten old.Â
 @justsayin Ah, sage advice from someone so full of bias and anger that they call those with differing views "communists".
 @justsayin If you are referring to the sane party, no I don't think we are done yet. But I will be watching the debate tonight and look forward to hearing some actually details about Romney's plans.  Is he going to reiterate the flip or the flop? Seriously, is he going to try to appeal to the tea party or to the middle class he has alienated?
@Darn it!:Â
I was hoing for the same - actual DETAILS, not just braod general statements. I gave up afvter the first 60 minutes - mittens was as evasive as ever.
 @Darn it!  @justsayin "and look forward to hearing some actually details about Romney's plans"
Romney jut finished - and I am still waiting for those details...all he says is "Trust me, I'll think of something"...
I sure hope Gordon Gekko, I mean Mittens gets exposed tonight for the flip-flopping, tax evading, outsourcing fraud he is!!Â
 @HallandOates Even though I would like to see that, Obama needs to focus the debate on the middle class and what this election means for them.  It pains me to say it but he needs to leave Romney alone, at least on a personal level.
@HallandOates Oh look the same comment you have made for the past five days. I would like to remind you that Timothy Geitner, you know, head of the Treasury, is the one who evaded taxes, Oh and yea, he is a rich democommunist appointed by Obama!
@HallandOates You shouldn't talk that way about Biden.