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Presidential Debate Brings Political Theater to Denver

"Mr. President, as president, you're entitle to your own airplane and your own house but not your own facts." Mitt¹ Romney quipped during the face to face clash between himself and President Barack Obama, who has a slight lead in the polls.

But outside the theater where the debate was being held, there was a party. The University of Denver called it "Debate Fest". After months of classes on politics and presidential debates, students enjoyed the national spotlight². "Debate Fest" participants enjoyed performers, who shared the stage with social media -- a wall of tweets.

One hundred lucky students had their names drawn³ in a lottery⁴ where the prize was a chance to sit inside the debate hall. Doctoral student Catherine Orsborn was one of the participants.

“I'm interested to see if Romney can shift focus of the debate," she said.

Massive chain link fences marked the debate perimeter⁵ and police patrol the entrances.

Inside, the university's hockey rink was transformed into a debate hall. Seven thousand seats were removed to make room for the massive stage, to make space for the media, and for extra security. That left only 1,000 seats for an audience.

Beforehand, stand-ins for the president and Romney helped technicians get audio and lighting⁶ just right. Backstage there was a filing center where 3,000 journalists watched and wrote their stories - 700 of them from foreign countries. Wessel de Jong, a correspondent for Dutch Public Broadcasting, said his viewers in the Netherlands would stay up all night to watch the U.S. Debate.

“United States is some kind of laboratory I think for politics in general," he explained. "So many politicians in the Netherlands just look at what's being done here. Right wing politicians, you see them copying tea party strategies. It's a big inspiration -- what's going on here.”

Afterwards, there was the organized chaos⁷ known as "Spin Alley⁸", which has become a fixture⁹ of American presidential debates. 

"The President couldn't justify¹⁰ his positions," one person said.

"Mitt Romney's having trouble in this campaign," opined another.

The campaigns sent advocates to Denver to tell journalists who they thought won the debate. Political insiders call it a "spin" of the national discussion and voters perceptions.

But in the end, it's the 50 million viewers watching on TV and on the internet who will decide if this first debate, or the other presidential and vice¹¹ presidential debate will sway their votes.