4 October 2012
Last updated at 08:16 GMT
Highlights from the first US presidential debate between Obama and Romney
US
Republican candidate Mitt Romney won the first of three televised
debates with President Barack Obama, polls and analysts say.
After the 90-minute duel centring on taxes, the deficit and
healthcare, polls gave Mr Romney a 46-67% margin with Mr Obama trailing
with 22-25%.
Commentators said Mr Romney appeared in command while Mr Obama was hesitant.
Mr Obama has led national polls and surveys in the swing states that will decide the 6 November election.
The BBC's Mark Mardell says if the gap narrows or Mitt Romney
starts moving ahead of Mr Obama, that will be a huge boost for his
campaign, and suggest he could win the White House.
However if they hardly budge, then the Republican challenger will be in deep trouble, the North America editor adds.
Stopping slump
President Obama appeared hesitant, occasionally asking
moderator Jim Lehrer, of US public television network PBS, for time to
finish his points.
Continue reading the main story
As theatre, a battle of image and confidence, Mitt Romney was
the clear winner. He had obviously practised so hard and so long that he
was nearly hoarse. But not quite. Instead his voice was a touch deeper.
No bad thing.
He looked Mr Obama in the eyes as he interrupted with
animation, overriding the moderator, insisting on a comeback. He didn't
seem rude. He did seem in command and to be enjoying the scrap.
President Obama on the other hand looked as though he'd much
rather be out celebrating his wedding anniversary with his wife. He
started out looking very nervous, swallowing hard, not the confident
performer we are used to seeing.
Republicans certainly feel that they have used the debate to
shift the perception of their candidate, shake up the etch-a-sketch and
talk about his passion for job creation and focus on the middle classes.
The next string of opinion polls could hardly matter more.
If they narrow or he starts moving ahead of Mr Obama, that will be a
huge boost for his campaign, and suggest he could win the White House.
However if after an acclaimed victory the opinion polls hardly budge,
then it would mean he is in a very serious hole indeed.
The two candidates attacked each
other's economic plans, with Mr Obama describing his rival's approach as
"top-down economics" and a retread of Bush-era policies.
"If you think by closing [tax] loopholes and deductions for
the well-to-do, somehow you will not end up picking up the tab, then
Governor Romney's plan may work for you," he said.
"But I think math, common sense, and our history shows us that's not a recipe for job growth."
Mr Romney derided Mr Obama's policies as "trickle-down government".
"The president has a view very similar to the one he had when
he ran for office four years ago, that spending more, taxing more,
regulating more - if you will, trickle-down government - would work," Mr
Romney said.
"That's not the right answer for America."
Mr Romney pledged not to reduce taxes for wealthy Americans,
and said Mr Obama had misrepresented Mr Romney's tax plans on the
campaign trail.
Both camps rushed to defend the respective performances.
"The average person at home saw a president who you could
trust," Obama adviser David Plouffe told reporters. "That's what the
American people are looking for."
But senior Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom said the president had spoken "only in platitudes".
"If this were a boxing match, it would have been called by the referee," he said.
Continue reading the main story
Presidential debates 2012
- 3 Oct Denver, Colorado. Domestic policy. Moderated by Jim Lehrer (PBS)
- 11 Oct Danville, Kentucky. Vice-presidential debate. Moderated by Martha Raddatz (ABC)
- 16 Oct Hempstead, New York. Town-hall style foreign policy debate. Moderator: Candy Crowley (CNN)
- 22 Oct Boca Raton, Florida. Moderator: Bob Schieffer (CBS)
Commission on Presidential Debates
Commentators largely agreed that Mitt Romney had performed better.
New York Times columnist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman said, Mr Obama "did a terrible job in the debate, and Romney did well".
"But in the end, this isn't or shouldn't be about theatre
criticism, it should be about substance," Mr Krugman said defending Mr
Obama's statements whilst charging that "much of what Romney said was
either outright false or so misleading as to be the moral equivalent of a
lie".
ABC News quoted one of its consultants and
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile as saying: "Mitt Romney did a lot of good... was a little more aggressive than the president."
Washington Post conservative columnist George Will said Mr
Romney's performance had "stopped [his slump in the polls] in its
tracks".
A CNN/ORC International poll of 430 people who watched the debate showed 67% thought Romney won, compared with 25% for Obama.
A CBS News poll found a 46% support for Mr Romney, 22% for Mr Obama and 32% saying it was a tie.
And
a Google survey gave Mr Romney a 47.8% advantage against 25.4% for Mr Obama.
Clash on 'Obamacare'
Continue reading the main story
Race to the White House
Obama49%
Romney46%
On healthcare, Mr Romney said that Mr
Obama's "Obamacare" reform law of 2010 had increased health costs and
kept small businesses from hiring.
Even as he pledged to repeal Mr Obama's health law, Mr Romney
praised and defended a plan he himself had previously signed as
governor of Massachusetts that is widely hailed as the model for the
Obama law.
Mr Obama, meanwhile, said his plan had kept insurance companies from denying coverage to sick people.
The University of Denver debate was the first in a series of
three presidential forums and one vice-presidential encounter this
month.
Running-mates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan will meet in Danville,
Kentucky on 11 October, before the second presidential debate on 16
October.COPY http://www.bbc.co.uk
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