October 3, 2012, 8:30 PM
Finally, the faceoff begins. Welcome to MarketWatch’s live blog of the first debate between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
MarketWatch reporter Rob Schroeder will be bringing you blow by blow updates as the candidates square off on everything from taxes to trade to the deficit and more.
Stay on this page and follow our live stream to follow the action and what it means for the markets, the nation’s finances and your wallet.
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10:18 pmADD A COMMENT
(For the record: Romney's wearing the red tie; Obama the blue.)
10:17 pmADD A COMMENT
About the only thing Romney and Obama agree on tonight is the government's role in protecting the country. Other than that they're about as different as the red and blue ties they're wearing.
10:16 pmADD A COMMENT
Obama is listing things he says government has helped with: the trans-continental railroad, land grant colleges, etc. This would be a great segway into the fiscal cliff issue -- but it isn't coming up. How would Romney deal with the big cuts looming in January? Obama? It doesn't seem like we're going to find out tonight.
10:12 pmADD A COMMENT
Obama reminds Romney that he's said he'll cap tax deductions but says he hasn't given specifics. Actually, Romney gave three possible examples on Monday: the mortgage-interest deduction, charitable contributions and health care.
10:06 pmADD A COMMENT
Health care is one of the ironies of the presidential campaign. Obama scores better with voters on health care in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, but his law is hardly widely popular. He goes after Romney as being too vague about what he'd replace "Obamacare" with.
10:02 pmADD A COMMENT
...and we get to the line Romney has been dreading all night. Obama says Romney's "Obamacare"-like law he signed as Massachusetts governor worked really well. Romney's comeback: we didn't raise taxes or cut Medicare with our law.
10:00 pmADD A COMMENT
Obama is defending his health-care law, something he must be awfully tired of doing after it was debated, passed, signed by him and ultimately upheld as constitutional in the Supreme Court. But Republicans are pit bulls on this issue; they won't let it go.
9:58 pmADD A COMMENT
Next: health care. Romney repeats, as he has ad nauseum all campaign season, that he wants to repeal "Obamacare." He cites a congressional study that it would add to the cost of health care. And, once again, he brings his argument back to small businesses, claiming many believe it will lead them not to hire.
9:55 pmADD A COMMENT
Bank stock investors, remember this line from Romney: "We have to have regulation of Wall Street."
9:54 pmADD A COMMENT
Obama defends Dodd-Frank and slams "risky behavior." Wall Street, that means you.
9:52 pmADD A COMMENT
Regulations on the economy is the next topic. Romney tries to make it clear he isn't against all regulations. "At the same time, regulation can become excessive," he says. His Exhibit A: the Dodd-Frank law.
9:50 pmADD A COMMENT
Romney really doesn't like the term "voucher." He says he wants to allow people to choose private plans. The whole idea is lower cost and better quality. What he isn't saying is how much insurance companies would benefit.
9:46 pmADD A COMMENT
Obama explains why he doesn't support Romney's Medicare plan: "The problem is that...it would cost the average senior about $6,000 a year."
9:46 pmADD A COMMENT
Obama explains why he doesn't support Romney's Medicare plan: "The problem is that...it would cost the average senior about $6,000 a year."
9:44 pmADD A COMMENT
Romney is very cautious on the subject of Medicare, stressing that his plans won't change the program for current retirees or those about to retire.
9:41 pmADD A COMMENT
Now onto entitlements including Social Security and Medicare. This is a danger zone for Romney, especially in Florida, where seniors are very skeptical about his voucher-style program idea for Medicare.
9:40 pmADD A COMMENT
Romney argues that much of the oil breaks Obama is talking about go to smaller companies. And then he calls out Obama's green energy plans. This is a major difference between the candidates -- and one that investors will want to strategize about depending on who wins. Obama is calling for more investment in wind, solar and other alternative fuels. Romney wants more traditional sources, including coal.
9:36 pmADD A COMMENT
Obama calls out ExxonMobil by name, asking if they need "corporate welfare" in the form of tax breaks. His answer: No. He's long argued for taking tax breaks away from Big Oil companies.
9:33 pmADD A COMMENT
Romney keeps it simple when trying to take down Obama's tax plans: "You raise taxes and you kill jobs."
9:32 pmADD A COMMENT
Something Obama might want to mention if he's going for the investor vote tonight: the S&P 500 index is up 80% since he was inaugurated in January 2009.
9:29 pmADD A COMMENT
Romney charges that Obama has doubled the deficit. Obama's rebuttal is that he has a trillion-dollar-plus deficit waiting for him when he got to office. And he had to take some emergency measures to help the economy.
9:27 pmADD A COMMENT
Now it's on to the debt and deficit. Romney calls spending more than the country takes in is a moral issue.
9:25 pmADD A COMMENT
Romney's unequivocal: He says he doesn't favor a $5 trillion tax cut.
9:24 pmADD A COMMENT
Obama is now directly linking Romney with Bush on taxes, a clever tactic designed to compare the current GOP hopeful with one who was very unpopular when he left office.
9:23 pmADD A COMMENT
It's worth remembering here that Obama scored better on taxes in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Overall, though, it was Romney who led on the economy.
9:20 pmADD A COMMENT
"We do have a difference when it comes to definitions of small business," Obama says.
9:20 pmADD A COMMENT
Romney is really going for small-business owners here. He says 54% of Americans work at businesses that are taxed at the individual rate. Obama repeats that he wants rates to rise for incomes of more than $250,000 a year.
9:17 pmADD A COMMENT
Romney insists that he won't put in place a tax cut that adds to the deficit. Note that neither of them have addressed the fiscal cliff or any kind of investment taxes...yet.
9:16 pmADD A COMMENT
Obama is saying he's cut taxes for the middle class. He slams Romney's tax and deficit plans sand says they'll burden the middle class. Obama keeps calling it "top down economics." That line will live on after tonight.
9:14 pmADD A COMMENT
Romney gets in a dig about energy production, one of his big talking points. He says he wants to build a pipeline from Canada and urges energy independence. Oil companies and investors, listen for more of this kind of talk tonight.
9:13 pmADD A COMMENT
Romney says high income people are doing "just fine" in America and goes for the middle-class appeal. This is smart politics for a man often painted by his opponents as out of touch.
9:11 pmADD A COMMENT
Obama is really going after Romney on taxes. Both of them have to figure out how to sell their tax plans without busting the deficit and scaring markets.
9:10 pmADD A COMMENT
Obama: first, we've got to improve our education system. This is a mantra of his. He says he wants to hire 100,000 new math and science teachers. This goes directly to the competitiveness of U.S. companies. He also packs in a reference to lowering the corporate tax rate, to 25%.
9:08 pmADD A COMMENT
But Romney's critics have said that his 20% across the board tax cut skews toward the wealthy. Watch for Obama's comeback.
9:07 pmADD A COMMENT
But he quickly turns serious. "It's going to take a different path" to help Americans, he says -- and denies he'll cut taxes for the rich.
9:07 pmADD A COMMENT
Romney's up. He actually gets in a little humor, ribbing Obama for spending his wedding anniversary with him.
9:06 pmADD A COMMENT
He says the U.S. must invest in education, training and new kinds of energy. This is predictable Obama; he's been using all these lines all year and did so in his convention speech.
9:05 pmADD A COMMENT
Obama wishes a happy anniversary to his wife before launching into a pretty standard stump line about the auto industry and housing coming back. But he counsels patience: "we've got a lot of work to do."
9:04 pmADD A COMMENT
First question is about jobs. Lehrer asks what the differences on jobs are. Each gets 2 minutes.
9:04 pmADD A COMMENT
Moderator Jim Lehrer says emphasis is on differences and specifics. And the audience is under strict orders to remain silent. Excepting for when the candidates came out. Now they're off.
9:02 pmADD A COMMENT
OK, here we go. Debate is underway.
8:49 pmADD A COMMENT
Wow. Note from Nate Silver @fivethirtyeight: "Ohio, just by itself, now has a 40% chance of determining the Electoral College winner."
Now note this: None of the three debates between Obama and Romney will be in Ohio. Tonight's is in Colorado; Oct. 16th's will be in New York; and Oct. 22nd's is slated for Florida.
8:41 pmADD A COMMENT
This just in: Obama and Romney are in the building. The building is the Ritchie Center at the University of Denver -- in swing-state Colorado.
8:38 pmADD A COMMENT
and a shout-out to MarketWatch's @dlevineMW, who'll be feeding our stream with a steady diet of markets and economy tweets.
8:34 pmADD A COMMENT
26 minutes and counting until the first debate. Don't forget to follow Steve Goldstein's live charts here: http://stream.marketwatch.com/st ... nd-romney-in-denver |
发表于 2012-10-3 22:25
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