The brightly colored ties were on and the gloves came off as President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney embarked on the first of three presidential debates.
It's up to the policy wonks, body language experts and cable news pundits to determine who "won" tonight's highly anticipated battle of wits and words.
But, in the meantime, we're more than happy to fill you in on what rocked—and what kinda sucked:
MOST ROMANTIC MOMENT: Obama used up part of his allotted two-minute opening statement to make note of his 20th wedding anniversary. "Twenty years ago, I became the luckiest man on earth because Michelle Obama agreed to marry me," said the commander-in-chief. "Sweetie, a year from now we won't be celebrating in front of 40 million people."
MOST BROMANTIC MOMENT: "Congratulations to you on your anniversary," Romney told the POTUS. "I'm sure this is the most romantic place you could imagine, here with me!"
HITCH IN THE GIT-ALONG: Moderator Jim Lehrer did a lot of interrupting in the form of repeated reassertions of the rules. Bill Maher tweeted early on: "Why does Jim Lehrer keep trying to stop them from debating? Gentlemen, please, this debate is no place for debating!"
BEST TIE: Obama's royal blue neckwear was tops. Romney went for State of the Union-red and, maybe our brightness settings were off, but...it hurt our eyes.
BEST DECLARATION OF LOVE FOR A MUPPET: "I love Big Bird!" Romney declared, albeit while saying he planned to slash federal funding for PBS.
WORST COMPLIMENT: "I actually like you, too!" Romeny assured Lehrer while informing the PBS NewsHour host that he planned to end PBS subsidies.
SAVVIEST WAY OF REFERENCING BILL CLINTON'S DNC SUCCESS: Obama using the word "arithmetic" to slam Romney's proposed tax plan was no accident.
BEST SAMUEL L. JACKSON TWEET: "What is that F--kin' Look on Mitt's face?! Half grin, half smirk, All Fear! WTF!"
MOST FACETIOUS STATEMENT: "I use that term with all respect," Romney said of the derogatory-when-Republicans-use-it term "Obamacare."
BEST DIG: "Donald Trump is a small business—I know Donald Trump doesn't like to think of himself as small anything, but that's how you define small business income," Obama said of the Celebrity Apprentice host, who wasted a lot of time over the past year banging the drum for the birther movement.
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Wednesday, October 3rd 2012 at 11:10PM
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