The US presidential election is less than two months away, and the first few topics for the first debate have been confirmed.
The first presidential debate will be on Oct. 3 at 9 p.m. EDT from the University of Denver in Colorado. Democratic President Barack Obama is hoping to get a second term against Republican challenger Mitt Romney and the economy is the main point of discussion.
In fact, the economy will be featured three times for the first debate.
The economy has been a major point in the election due to the high unemployment rate and rising deficit in the US budget.
There will be three other topics aside from the economy: health care, the role of government, and governing.
The moderator for the first debate will be Jim Lehrer from PBS. According to Debates.org, he selected the topics with the theme of "domestic policy."
According to Lehrer, the topics are subject to change due to news developments and can be brought up in any order.
The presidential debates will follow different formats, according to the Co-Chairmen of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. and Michael McCurry.
The first debate will allot 15 minutes for each of the six topics in order to fit the 90 minute time limit. The moderator (Lehrer) will start each segment with a question and the candidates will be given two minutes to respond.
The second debate will be on Oct. 16 at 9 p.m. ET from Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. The debate format will be different and follow a town meeting style under the moderation of CNN Chief Political Correspondent and "State of the Union" anchor Candy Crowley.
People will have the opportunity to ask Obama or Romney a question on domestic and foreign policy. Similar to the first debate, the candidates will have two minutes to respond but an additional minute for the Crowley to manage the discussion will be provided. The questioners will consist of undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization.
The final presidential debate will return to the same format as the first debate but focus heavily on foreign policy. It will be moderated by CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent and "Face the Nation" anchor Bob Schieffer from Lynn University at the battleground state of Florida. It will take place on Oct. 22 at 9 p.m. ET.
Topics for the second and third debate have not been released. Latinos Post will provide live streaming of the presidential debate as the date approaches.
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