FOXNews.com: Obama, Romney kick off first presidential debate in Denver

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Obama, Romney kick off first presidential debate in Denver Oct 4th 2012, 00:32 It's show time. President Obama and Mitt Romney took the stage Wednesday night in Denver for their first debate, meeting face to face for the first time after months of waging campaign warfare from afar. The debate in Denver, which will focus on domestic policy, falls against the backdrop of a sputtering economic recovery and rising U.S. debt. Romney has used these factors to argue Obama does not deserve a second term. But the president so far has made the emphatic case that he's still cleaning up the mess from the prior administration and needs four more years to finish the job. The campaigns have been carefully managing expectations in the run-up to the debate. Obama's advisers claimed Romney arrived with practice from the primary season under his belt. Romney's advisers noted Obama was the only one on stage with any general election debate experience.  But Romney's campaign cranked up its attacks in advance of the faceoff. Republicans seized on a comment by Vice President Biden in North Carolina on Tuesday in which he said the middle class has been "buried" over the last four years.  Romney and running mate Paul Ryan pointed to Biden's admission as proof of what they've been arguing all along. The comment played into their central claim that Obama's policies have hurt the middle class.  The Obama campaign, though, called the Republicans' claims a "desperate and out-of-context attack."  Romney arguably has the most to gain out of Tuesday's performance. Though competitive with Obama in national polls, he's been slipping in key battlegrounds. The debate is a chance for him to close that gap and potentially benefit simply from being on the same stage as the president.  The two candidates debate next on Oct. 16 and for the last time on Oct. 22. The only vice presidential debate is set for Oct. 11.

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