DENVER- President Barack Obama and Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney will go head to head Wednesday evening in the candidates’ first televised debate in Denver, Colorado.
The discussion will focus on domestic policy, with moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS’ placing the economy on the front burner for the first half of the event and closing it with 15-minute segments on health care, the role of government and governing.
The face off stands as a major test for Romney, whose campaign has lagged since Obama garnered a clear lead following the Democratic Party’s National Convention.
A Gallup poll conducted between September 24th through 27th shows that by a 57 to 33 percent margin, the majority of Americans believe Obama will outperform his Republican rival.
However, both campaigns have attempted to downplay expectations. Romney’s team has noted that the candidate has not debated against a Democrat in 10 years and earlier this week Obama personally described Romney as a “good debater” while saying that he is just “okay.”
The University of Colorado will host the debate. It runs from 9:00pm EST to 10:30 EST.
The following Presidential debates will be held on October 16th at New York’s Hofstra University and October 22nd at Florida’s Lynn University. The Vice Presidential debate will be held at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky on October 11th.
