Obama, Romney brace for first debate

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney square off Wednesday night in their first of three televised 90-minute debates as time is running short for the Republican challenger to find traction for his campaign, according to strategists from both parties.

Voters have higher expectations for Obama in the debate, with 54 percent of those surveyed believing he will win, and 28 percent saying Romney will do better, according to a new poll by Quinnipiac University. The Denver debate, which begins at 9 p.m., will focus on domestic policy.

Obama continues to lead Romney among likely voters, polls show, suggesting that the president has been able to maintain his post-convention bounce. For the election, likely voters in the Quinnipiac poll favored Obama 49 percent to 45 percent over Romney, partly based on Obama's strong showing among women, who like him more by 18 points.

Republican strategist Brett O'Donnell noted that both campaigns are now competing for a small slice of undecided voters in the swing states. He framed the opening debate this way:

"Can Mitt Romney convince those voters that President Obama is to blame for present economic conditions and that things are getting worse, or can President Obama convince voters that we're headed in the right direction and to change now would endanger a fragile recovery? The first debate and the first 30 minutes of the first debate are the most important."

Democratic consultant Tad Devine said of Romney, "He is running out of runway."

Neither candidate made a public appearance Tuesday, but Romney used Twitter to seize on a comment by Vice President Joe Biden that the middle class had been "buried" for the last four years.

Romney said he agreed, "which is why we need a change in November."

Biden told about 1,000 people in Charlotte, N.C., that Romney would cut taxes for millionaires and raise them for middle-class families.

"This is deadly earnest," Biden said. "How they can justify raising taxes on a middle class that has been buried the last four years? How in lord's name can they justify raising their taxes with these tax cuts?"

Romney's running mate Paul Ryan, campaigning in Iowa, said, "They're being buried by the Obama administration's economic failures."

Biden tried to clarify his comments later in the day, declaring "The middle class was buried by the policies that Romney and Ryan supported."