(AFP) – 0305 GMT: This concludes the AFP Live Report on the second presidential debate. The third and final debate will be held on Monday, October 22 with a focus on foreign policy.
0250 GMT: It was a firey night in Hempstead, with both candidates seemingly freed by the lack of podiums. They traded charge and counter charge, both hoping to reach the critical undecided voters.
0241 GMT: Both candidates are greeted on stage by their wives and families. They are also surrounded by several of the people who asked questions hoping to get their programs signed.
The candidates and their wives are also posing for photos with members of the public.
0239 GMT: THE DEBATE ENDS.
0233 GMT: Barry Green gets the final question. He asks what is the biggest misperception people have about you as a man and candidate?
Romney says the president’s characterization of him is untrue. He emphasizes that he cares about 100 percent of the American people. He uses this as an opportunity to discuss his belief in god and commitment to his church. He continues to repeat “we don’t have to settle” when discussing figures on unemployment and the economy.
Obama says it is a mispreception to say he believes that government creates jobs better than private enterprise. He then takes the time to criticize Romney for his comment that 47 percent of people consider themselves victims.
0226 GMT: Carol Goldberg asks how Romney will keep jobs in the United States.
Romney says he will go after China. He promises that on day one he will label China as a “currency manipulator.”
He also says they United States needs to lower its corporate tax rate. He criticizes the amount of regulation in the country.
Obama says he agrees that they should lower the corporate tax rate, but says they differ on how they would do it. Obama says he wants to close loopholes.
Obama also says that he has pushed trade deals.
Obama again goes after Romney’s business experience calling him a “pioneer of outsourcing.”
0217 GMT: Nina E Gonzalez asks how the Obama administration has tried to limit access to assault weapons.
Obama opens his answer by reassuring people that he supports the second amendment. Then he says he’s tried to strengthened background checks. He says that weapons designed for soldiers don’t belong on the streets.
Romney says he is not in favor of new legislation to take guns away from people. He also criticizes the Fast and Furious program of the Justice Department, which had hoped to track gun running, but went wrong and left powerful weapons with Mexican drug gangs.
Crowley follows up by asking Romney why he no longer supports an assault weapon ban.
Romney says the piece of legislation he signed in Massachusetts was also supported by the pro-gun lobby, which is why he supported it.
0214 GMT: Crowley brings up Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s comments that she was responsible for what happens in Libya, but Obama says that Clinton works for me.
Obama gets very serious in his answer. He says it is “offensive” to say that his administration was playing politics as they revealed information about what happened in Benghazi.
“The suggestion that anybody on my team, whether it’s Secretary of State, our UN Ambassador, anybody on my team, would play politics or mislead when we’ve lost four of our own, Governor, is offensive. That’s not what we do. That’s not what I do as president, not what I do as commander in chief.”
0208 GMT: Kerry Ladka asks about who denied increased security at the embassy in Benghazi, Libya.
Obama says he has called for a clear investigation of what happened in Libya. He ensures Ladka that he will hunt down the people behind the attack and bring them to justice. He accuses Romney of using the situation for political gain.
Obama says, “I am ultimately responsible for what has taken place.”
Romney says the attack in Benghazi should have been called a terrorist attack from the beginning. He says it calls into question the president’s policy in the Middle East.
0206 GMT: Romney tries to return to an earlier question, but Obama interrupts. Romney tries to make the point that Obama is likely invested in Chinese companies via his pension. He repeatedly asks Obama, “Have you looked at your pension?”
Obama tries to avoid the questioning by responding to Romney, “mine is not as big as yours.”
0158 GMT: Lorraine Osorio asks what will happen to immigrants who don’t have green cards, but live in society productively under a Romney administration.
Romney talks about his father being born in Mexico and his wife’s father being born in Wales. He says he supports employer verification systems and not giving drivers licences to illegal immigrants. He criticises the president for not promoting legislation on immigration in his first months in office.
Obama says he’s tried to get cooperation from Congress to tackle immigration policy, but in the end he took any action he could with his executive powers. He says he focused policy on working to find criminals who are in the country illegally.
He also says he supports a path to citizenship for children brought to the country illegally by their parents and takes that as an opportunity to contrast his views with Romney. He says Romney told the Republican party that he did not support the Dream Act.
Crowley tries to get Romney to discuss his comment that people should self-deport, but Romney deflects.
0151 GMT: Michael Jones says that he voted for Obama in 2008, but wants to know what he has done to earn a vote for a second time.
Obama lists off his accomplishments, including the killing of Osama bin Laden and the rescue of the auto industry.
He says Romney will keep promises like repealing “Obamacare”.
Romney says to Jones, “I think you know better” in response to Obama’s answer. He criticizes the unemployment rate, the deficit and the rising cost of healthcare premiums.
0146 GMT: The next question asks how Mitt Romney is different from George W. Bush.
Romney says he is committed to trade and Bush was not. He says he will crack down on China. Romney also says he will get to a balanced budget which Bush did not. He says he is focused on small business, not big business.
Obama says he did inherit a difficult economy, but touts job growth. He accuses Romney of investing in companies that outsourced to China and says he’s the “last person” who will get tough on China.
Obama says Bush embraced comprehensive immigration reform – not calling for “self-deportation” like Romney.
0143 GMT: Obama follows up on the question of equality by saying that his health care plan requires insurance companies to offer contraception. He also defends support for Planned Parenthood. He says that access to health care and contraception are “pocket book” issues for women.
0136 GMT: Katherine Fenton asks the candidates about how to rectify inequalities – particularly the disparity in pay between men and women.
Obama launches into a biographical story about his single mother and his grandmother and how hard they worked. Obama says they inequity they faced are one reason that he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
Romney uses the example of who he selected for his cabinet and senior staff when he was governor of Massachusetts to show that he is committed to equality. He also says he offered flexible scheduling to accommodate the family commitments of women on his staff.
0133 GMT: Obama mentions the rate of taxes paid by Romney – saying it is probably less than most of the questioners in the audience. He also accuses Romney of only saying that he will cut funding for Big Bird and Planned Parenthood. He says, “The numbers don’t add up.”
Romney says, “Of course they add up. I was someone who ran businesses for 25 years and balanced the budget.”
Romeny then turns to criticize Obama on the deficit. He says the president’s spending is putting the US on the “road to Greece.”
0129 GMT: Both candidates are very strong tonight. They are not shy about accusing each other of dishonesty or interrupting each other.
This tax question gives them a chance to highlight their talking points and share their philosophies on taxes. Romney accuses Obama of hurting small businesses with his tax policies, while Obama says he has lowered taxes on small businesses 18 times.
0123 GMT:Â Mary Eileen Follano asks a tax related question. She wants to know which deductions Romney will eliminate in the tax code.
Romney says he wants to lower the tax rates for everyone – particularly “middle income” families.
Romney says he will eliminate or limit deductions mainly for top income earners. Romney says people will not pay taxes on their savings if you make less than $200,000 a year. He says he will not reduce the share of taxes paid by the top 5 percent of earners.
Obama says his tax plan focuses on relief for middle class families and those striving on reaching the middle class. He accuses the Republican congress of holding up middle class tax relief.
0120 GMT: Romney says he doesn’t think the American people believe that Obama is fighting for oil and gas production. Romney says that if a president’s energy policy is working the price of energy should go down.
0119 GMT: The candidates are now directly challenging each other on whether the administration cut oil and gas permits.
According to the pool report, there was an audible gasp in the hall with Romney brushed off the president telling him he’d get a turn in a minute.
0117 GMT: Crowley asks if $4 a gallon gas is the new normal.
Obama says oil consumption is going up, but so is production. He also touts investment in “clean coal”.
0115 GMT: Phillip Tricolla asks if the candidates agree with the Energy Secretary that it is not the Energy Department’s job to lower gas prices.
Obama walks over to Tricolla to answer. Obama says that Romney doesn’t have a clean energy component to his plans for energy. Obama says he wants to focus on clean energy.
Romney says that oil and gas production are down because the president cut opportunities for the industry. Romney says he is focused on North American energy independence and that he will say yes to the pipeline from Canada.
0108 GMT: Crowley follows up by asking about what they would do about long-term unemployed people.
Romney criticizes Obama’s record on job creation. He says he has a five point plan to create jobs.
Obama counters that Romney does not have a five point plan, it’s a “one point plan” to favor those at the top.
0106 GMT: Obama tells Jeremy that his future is bright. Obama says he supports American manufacturing jobs. He brings up his policy to bail out the US auto industry – contrasting himself with Romney’s opinion on the subject. He also discusses his talking points on the importance of retraining at community college and investing in new energy.
0104 GMT: The first question is asked by a first time voter, Jeremy Epstein. He asks how they can assure him and his parents that he will be able to get a job to support himself.
Romney says, “I want you to be able to get a job.” He says he is a job creator and can offer opportunity.
“I know what it takes to create good jobs and to make sure you have the opportunity you deserve.”
0102 GMT: The first presidential opens with Crowley explaining that neither candidate has seen the questions in advance.
The candidates enter. Obama is wearing a blue tie, Romney a red tie – Â a switch from the first debate.
Romney gets the first question.
0059 GMT: Â Crowley tells the 82 undecided voters in the town hall seats, “You brought great questions, its gonna be a great night.”
0053 GMT: Candy Crowley is introduced to the audience. She also tells the audience to be sure to turn off their electronic devices. “Turn off everything that has an on-off button,” she said.
0051 GMT: The First Lady and Ann Romney are introduced to the audience. Both are dressed in pink.
0048 GMT: Mike McCurry of the Commission on Presidential Debates admonished all the members of the audience to turn off and put away their cell phones.
0046 GMT: Both candidates have arrived at Hofstra. We’re getting the first photos of Romney and his wife Ann in the holding room. They appear to be relaxing with some of their children.
Ann Romney told CNN about her husband’s debate rituals. “He finds me in the audience he takes off his watch and puts it on the podium and then he writes dad on a piece of paper. He loves his dad, and he does not want to do anything that would not make him proud.”
0043 GMT: How did the candidates prepare for tonight?
The president has been in Williamsburg, Virginia since Saturday for intense debate prep. Obama’s rehearsal partner Senator John Kerry said, “The President really wants to talk to Americans tonight. I think it should be fun.”
Obama flew to New York this morning. Asked by pool reporters about his prospects, the president replied: “I feel fabulous. Look at this beautiful day.”
He planned to eat a dinner of stake and potatoes with the First Lady.
Romney spent Monday studying up near his Massachusetts home. Romney also arrived in New York this morning. According to pool reports, he spent portion of the flight speaking with his debate prep partner Senator Rob Portman.
This evening Romney ate a dinner of rotisserie chicken, with sides of spinach and baked potato, with his wife Ann and five sons.
0038 GMT: Tonight’s debate is moderated by CNN’s chief political reporter Candy Crowley. Crowley is the host of CNN’s Sunday morning political chat show “State of the Union”. She is the first woman to moderate a presidential debate since 1987.
Crowley met earlier today with the undecided voters selected to attend the debate, and heard their intended questions. She is in sole control of which questioners will be called on to address the candidates. CNN reports there will no closing statements.
0036 GMT: The debate is hosted by Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Hofstra is a private, liberal arts college founded in 1935. Just over 7,000 undergraduate students attend the school on Long Island.
A lucky 300 students were granted tickets to be inside the Mack Sports Complex for the event.
CNN reports that the room is being kept between 62 and 64 degrees, per a negotiation between the two campaigns.
Welcome to AFP’s Live Report on the second presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle. Tonight’s debate is seen as make-or-break for President Barack Obama, whose sluggish performance in the first debate evaporated his lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
This debate will utilize a town hall format, asking the candidates to answer questions from members of an audience of 82 undecided voters. The Gallup polling organization selected the audience, but has no say in the questions people will ask. The candidates will have two minutes each to respond to questions and an additional minute for discussion.
There was no opportunity for Obama or his aides to downplay the importance of his performance in tonight’s debate. Romney gained significant momentum after a strong performance in the October 3 debate and some polls show the former Massachusetts Governor now ahead.
Obama said that he was “too polite” in the first debate, but analysts caution it can be easy to look overaggressive during a town hall-style debate. Aides to the president countered that Obama is favored by the format, coming across as more at ease when he addresses everyday Americans.
With just three weeks left in the race, a surging Romney is looking to prove his solid first debate performance was not a fluke. He comes into the night confident, with a USA Today/Gallup poll showing the key constituency of women now back Obama just 49-48 percent, in 12 swing states.
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