Washington: 00:52: Ann Romeny is wearing a prim white skirt suit with pearls while Michelle Obama is wearing a purple jacket with a multi-colored blouse underneath.
00:49: Michelle Obama and Ann Romney greet each other in the audience with a polite embrace and kiss.
00:48 GMT: What does a presidential candidate do in the minutes leading up to his first ever presidential debate? Per photos from the wire stills, who were allowed into Romney’s hold room, Romney and his sons were engaged in a pre-debate game of Jenga.
00:45 GMT: Apart from the debate, today is a landmark day for Obama as it’s his 20th wedding anniversary to his wife Michelle.
“I told Barack, ‘This, you know, attending a presidential debate on my 20th anniversary is probably the worst way for me to spend (it).’ … I get so nervous at these debates,” she told CNN.
00:40 GMT: THE GUESSING GAME: Twenty minutes out from the debate, each candidate’s performance remains a giant unknown. In a Gallup Poll released this morning, however, 57 percent of Americans said they think Obama will do a better job than Mitt Romney, while 33 percent believed the reverse ? that Romney will do better than Obama.
00:34 GMT: Both Obama and Romney have arrived at Ritchie Center, the venue for tonight’s debate and home to the University of Denver’s hockey team.
WELCOME TO AFP?S LIVE REPORT on the first presidential debate in the 2012 election cycle. Tonight?s event is being held at Colorado?s University of Denver, a 12,000-student campus nestled in the heart of one of the nine swing states that will likely tilt the election to one candidate or the other.
As President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney make their case to the American public, it?s in these swing states in particular that the candidates stand to gain or lose the most. Both are fighting for a small slice of undecided, independent voters.
The hour-and-a-half question-answer session, hosted by the former host of ?PBS Newshour? Jim Lehrer, focuses on domestic policy with six 15-minute segments, the first three of which Lehrer has said will focus on the economy and the last three of which will focus on health care, the role of government and governing, respectively.
Recent weeks have seen Romney and Obama camps downplay their candidates’ debate skills in an attempt to establish low expectations, should either flounder tonight.
Romney stands to gain the most from the evening; a successful debate might wrest his campaign from the perils of slipping poll numbers and recent gaffes, such as his now-infamous comment that it wasn’t his job to worry about ?47 percent? of the country that would never support him. Obama must veer from an overly explanative or sometimes smug style to keep a tight fist on the slight lead he has carved out.
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