Presidential Debate Schedule 2012; Obama and Romney's Third Debate on Oct. 22
The road to the election is coming close to an end for President Obama and Mitt Romney.
After both presidential candidates showed a strong performance at the second debate on Tuesday, Oct. 16, preparations are being made for their third and final televised face off.
The third debate will take place on Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla., with the focused topic of foreign policy.
Bob Schieffer has been selected as moderator, according to the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), who is organizing the debate. The CBS newsman will host the 90-minute televised broadcast.
The CPD commented on the format for the debate saying, "The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic."
The foreign policy topics that will be covered include Middle East relations, the rise of China and America's place in the world.
Much of the discussion is likely to revolve around the war in Afghanistan and the tension between Israel and Iran.
The topic of Libya will potentially be revisited, as it's been discussed in previous debates. President Obama talked about the Benghazi attack last month on the U.S. Consulate during the second debate saying, that he called the attack an act of terror. Romney then claimed that Obama didn't say it was a terrorist attack until two weeks after, but the transcript of Obama's speech at the Rose Garden the day after the attack showed that the president did state "this was an act of terror and I also said that we're going to hunt down those who committed this crime."
However, Obama's administration didn't officially recognize the attack as an act of terror until 14 days after it took place. They initially linked it to protest demonstrations and then two weeks later they said the attack was a terror act.
Romney may have won the first debate, according to the polls, but President Obama came back and took the lead in round two.
CNN/ORC International conducted a poll of 457 registered voters that saw the televised debate between President Obama and Romney.
The results showed 46 percent in favor of Obama and 39 percent for Romney. It also found that 73 percent thought Obama exceeded expectations that were set by his performance in the first debate. Romney didn't fare as well with 37 percent of those polled saying that the Republican challenger did better than was expected.
The third and final debate takes place Monday, Oct. 22 at 9 p.m. ET.
