DENVER (AP) — In a showdown at close quarters, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney sparred in their
first campaign debate Wednesday night over taxes, deficits and strong steps needed to create jobs in a sputtering national
economy. "The status quo is not going to cut it," declared the challenger.
Obama in turn accused his rival of seeking to "double down" on economic policies that he said led to the devastating national
downturn four years ago.
Both men made frequent references to the
weak economy and high national unemployment, by far the dominant issue
in the race
for the White House.
Polite but pointed, the two men agreed about little if anything.
Obama said his opponent's plan to reduce all tax rates by 20 percent would cost $5 trillion and benefit the wealthy at the
expense of middle income taxpayers.
Shot back Romney: "Virtually everything he just said about my tax plan is inaccurate."
The former Massachusetts governor and businessman added that Obama's proposal to allow the expiration of tax cuts on upper-level
income would mean tax increases on small businesses that create jobs by the hundreds of thousands.
The two campaign rivals clasped hands and smiled as they strode onto the debate stage at the University of Denver, then waved
to the audience before taking their places behind identical lecterns.
There was a quick moment of laughter, when Obama referred to first lady Michelle Obama as "sweetie" and noted it was their
20th anniversary.
Romney added best wishes, and said to the first couple, "I'm sure this is the most romantic place you could imagine, here
with me."
Both candidates' wives were in the audience.
The two men debated before a television
audience likely to be counted in the tens of millions. They will meet
twice more this
month, and their running mates once, but in past election years,
viewership has sometimes fallen off after the first encounter.
Without saying so, the two rivals quickly
got to the crux of their race — Romney's eagerness to turn the contest
into a referendum
on the past four years while the incumbent desires for voters to
choose between his plan for the next four years and the one
his rival backs.
Romney ticked off the dreary economic facts of life — a sharp spike in food stamps, economic growth "lower this year than
last" and "23 million people out of work or stropped looking for work."
But Obama criticized Romney's prescriptions and his refusal to raise taxes and said, "if you take such an unbalanced approach
then that means you are going to be gutting our investment in schools and education ... health care for seniors in nursing
homes (and) for kids with disabilities."
Not surprisingly, the two men disagreed over Medicare, a flash point since Romney placed Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan on his ticket.
The president repeatedly described Romney's plan as a "voucher program" that would raise out-of-pocket costs on seniors.
He continued, directly addressing the voters at home: "If you're 54 or 55 you might want to listen because this will affect
you."
Romney said he doesn't support any changes for current retirees or those close to retirement.
"If you're 60 or 60 and older you don't need to listen further," he said, but he contended that fundamental changes are needed
to prevent the system from becoming insolvent as millions of baby boom generation Americans become eligible.
Romney also made a detailed case for repealing Obamacare, the name attached to the health care plan that Obama pushed through
Congress in 2010. "It has killed jobs," he said, and argued that the best approach is to "do what we did in my state."
Though he didn't say so, when he was governor Massachusetts passed legislation that required residents to purchase coverage
— the so-called individual mandate that conservatives and he oppose on a national level.
Romney also said that Obamacare would cut $716 billion from Medicare over the next decade.
The president said the changes were part of a plan to lengthen the program's life, and he added that AARP, the seniors lobby,
supports it.
Jim Lehrer of PBS drew moderator's duties, with Obama getting the first question and Romney the last word.
Five weeks before Election Day, early voting is under way in scattered states and beginning in more every day. Opinion polls
show Obama with an advantage nationally and in most if not all of the battleground states where the race is most likely to
be decided.
That put particular pressure on Romney to come up with a showing strong enough to alter the course of the campaign.
The sputtering economy served as the debate
backdrop, as it has for virtually everything else in the 2012 campaign
for the
White House. Obama took office in the shadow of an economic crisis
but promised a turnaround that hasn't materialized. Economic
growth has been sluggish throughout his term, with unemployment
above 8 percent since before he took office.
The customary security blended with a
festival-like atmosphere in the surrounding area on a warm and sunny
day. The Lumineers
performed for free, and Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am
delivered a pep talk of sorts to Obama's supporters. School officials
arranged to show the debate on monitors outside the hall for those
without tickets.
There was local political theater, too, including female Romney supporters wearing short shorts and holding signs that said,
"What War On Women?" — a rebuttal to claims by Obama and the Democrats.
Both campaigns engaged in a vigorous pre-debate competition to set expectations, each side suggesting the other had built-in
advantages.
Romney took part in 19 debates during the
campaign for the Republican primary early in the year. The president has
not been
onstage with a political opponent since his last face-to-face
encounter with Arizona Sen. John McCain, his Republican rival
in 2008.
Obama and Romney prepared for the evening with lengthy practice sessions. Romney selected Ohio Sen. Rob Portman as a stand-in
for the president; Obama turned to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry to play the Republican role.
The two presidential rivals also are scheduled to debate on Oct. 16 in Hempstead, N.Y., and Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla.
Vice President Joe Biden and Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin have one debate, Oct. 11 in Danville, Ky. Both men have
already begun holding practice sessions.