Today marks an important day for President Barack Obama. It’s his 20th wedding anniversary with Michelle Obama. Unfortunately, rather than celebrating with his wife, Obama will be in Denver, Colo., for the first presidential debate against Mitt Romney.
Tonight’s debate, the first of three, is going to be crucial for both presidential candidates. According to ABC News, the presidential race is statistically tied with Obama at 48 percent and Romney at 45 percent. The debate in Denver could determine which way Colorado, which is one of the critical swing states, will vote.
Typically seen as a Republican state in the past, Colorado voted for Obama in the 2008 presidential election after opting for George W. Bush in 2000 and in 2004. The state is split three ways evenly between Republican voters, Democratic voters, and independent voters.
“They need those independent voters to win. They are trying to appeal to those voters, but have to figure out what is the issue that resonates with them,” E. Scott Adler, a political science professor in Colorado told ABC News.
Tonight’s debate will focus on domestic policy and will be divided into six segments of 15 minutes for each presidential candidate on topics selected by the moderator, who will open each segment with a question. Each candidate will then get two minutes to respond. The remainder of the 15 minutes will be spent in a discussion with the moderator balancing the time.
While Romney has to focus on winning the crowd over after the infamous “47 percent” comments he made in a leaked video, Obama will need to prepare for questions about health care that will be directed towards him.
The debate is slated to start at 8 p.m. and will be televised as well as live-streamed online. The debate moderator will be Jim Lehrer, host of Newshour on PBS. The two other presidential debates for this election will take place Oct. 16 at 9 p.m. at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. and on Oct. 22, also at 9 p.m., at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.
— Wesly C. Cadet, Heather M. Monahan, Aime S. Mukendi and Benjamin E. Tryon
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