Presidential Debate Winner: Obama

Impact
BySarah Morgan

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the main event of the week! Live from the Medicare state, the presidential debate to end all presidential debates, watch as candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney face off one final time before Election Day. 

Presiding over this match and acting as referee we have CBS correspondent Bob Schieffer. Now to our fighters: In the red corner, weighing in at 170 pounds (must be the alcohol free diet), with a presidential record of 0 wins and coming to us from Massachusetts please give a round of applause to Governor Mitt ‘Mittens’ Romneeeeeeeeey! In the blue corner, hailing from the windy city by way of Hawaii, weighing in at 160 pounds, the presidential champ, give it up for Barack 'POTUS’ Ooobaaaaamaaaaaaa!

On Monday night, the candidates will dance around the ring to the tune of the following pre-determined foreign policy topics:

- America’s role in the world

Romney is certainly coming into this match at a disadvantage, seeing as his foreign policy experience is limited to his knowledge of Switzerland and the small tropical islands where he stashes his un-taxed cash. But this won’t necessarily be a cakewalk for Obama either, cough Libya cough. And how about Bob Schieffer? At times I feel that these poor moderator souls have faced more criticism than the candidates themselves. Can he appease the masses and avoid the wrath of the bloodthirsty pundits?

It’s true that most voters typically don’t care as much for foreign policy as they do about the economy, jobs, healthcare … you know, those things that directly affect us. But with the election just a few weeks away and a race that is being called one of the closest in U.S. history, this debate has the potential to really shake things up. If one of these candidates delivers a ‘Sunday Blow’ will it be enough to tip the tied race?

Let’s get ready to rumble!

PolicyMic will be covering the presidential debate live. For live updates, bookmark and refresh this page.

UPDATE: 11:45 AM Really excellent "cheat sheet" from Third Way for those covering the debate tonight.  Definitely worth a look!

8:18 PM Just had some coffee and this is how excited I am for the debate to begin:

8:28 PM 30 minutes to go...and to anyone curious about the location of the debate, here is an interesting piece in the Washington Post on how Lynn University snagged this honor.

8:37 PM I'm such a sucker for a good #PrepareYourself meme...

8:45 PM For your viewing pleasure:

8:51 PM Killing time before the debate starts? Why not take this quiz from Pew Research to see how much you know about the worldwide image of the U.S.

9:04 PM Anyone surprised that the first question is about Libya? No? Me either.

9:09 PM Romney's strategy is to go after the bad guys, and kill them.  Brilliant.

9:12 PM Hey Romney, the 1980s called...they want their foreign policy back.

9:16 PM Obama brings it back to domestic policy, nice pivot...but Bob is going to continue with foreign policy.

9:19 PM Does anyone else get the distinct feeling that Mitt Romney pulled an all nighter and is just spewing out facts from flash cards that his foreign policy advisors made for him?

9:23 PM How I feel listening to Romney talk about foreign policy:

9:28 PM Second time Romney has messed up a pretty important noun...Iraq, uh I mean, Iran.

9:29 PM "Human dignity" coming from the man who has #bindersfullofwomen

9:34 PM Romney keeps pivoting back to domestic policy and the economy because he doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to foreign policy.

9:38 PM I'm so sick of hearing about Massachusetts. Moving on.

9:40 PM When Romney talks about ending Obamacare:

9:44 PM 

Alexandra Petri ‏@petridishes

The Spanish Armada is the greatest foreign policy threat facing the united states! -Romney, kinda #debate

9:47 PM Too good. 

The Hill ‏@thehill

Obama: "We also have fewer horses and bayonets." #debate

9:49 PM It's official, we're definitely the last ones in the office...watching the debate!

9:54 PM "Nothing Romney just said is true" BOOM.

9:57 PM That's not an apology tour, that's called DIPLOMACY.

10:00 PM YES! Please talk about China. Please Please Please.

10:01 PM The DCCC hit it on the head with this one...

10:03 PM 

Aziz Ansari ‏@azizansari

"Hypothetical question, let's say Israel calls you up and they say 'we need all your hummus.' What's your move?" #BetterDebateQuestions

10:04 PM Romney needs to stop interrupting/arguing with Bob

10:14 PM Strategic Partnership Agreement.  Yeah, I think Obama knows what he's doing.

10:16 PM POTUS recognizes China's potential to be an ally...moments until Romney says something about currency manipulation.  Not relevant anymore.

10:19 PM THERE IT IS! Ezra Klein on what you should know about China's "currency manipulation"

10:26 PM Romney doesn't want to invest in companies? But he thinks corporations are people. hm.

10:30 PM "I think we all love teachers." Thank you, Mr. Schieffer.