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1.  On what issues did Mitt Romney question President Obama's record during Wednesday's first presidential debate?

2.  How did President Obama attempt to defend his record against Mitt Romney's criticism?

3.  According to the Washington Post reporters, how will this first debate affect the campaign?

4.  What was significant about this particular debate?

5.  The best way to understand the candidates and their positions on the issues is to watch the debate with a parent and discuss your reactions.  
Watch the entire debate at C-SPAN (or watch shorter clips here.)
a) What do you think of Gov. Romney's assertion that President Obama promised to cut the debt in half but it has instead doubled?  or that the president is hurting middle class Americans and small businesses?  Look for his explanation and Mr. Obama's reply.
b) What do you think of President Obama's accusation that Gov. Romney will cut taxes for the rich?  Look for his explanation and Mr. Romney's reply.

NOTE: The next debate is Tuesday, Oct. 16, at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. (This is the second presidential debate.)

6.   It was quite challenging to find a news article on the debate that gave the reader a clear understanding of Governor Romney's overall explanation of his ideas and President Obama's overall explanation of his ideas. Just publishing a few quotes from each candidate, as well as the reporter's interpretation of the candidate's intended meaning does not give voters the information they need to gain an accurate understanding of each candidate's position.

For example:

• Chicago Sun Times reporter Natasha Korecki stated: "Throughout the 90-minute bout in Denver, Romney tried to make "Obamacare" a dirty word, vowing to repeal it."  Many would not agree with her statement "Romney tried to make Obamacare a 'dirty word.'"  (Watch Gov. Romney discussing Obamacare for yourself - what is your impression?)
• Many reports suggest that President Obama might not have done that well in the debate because he was rusty - not having participated in a debate in 4 years, whereas Mitt Romney had a lot of practice during the Republican primary debates. However, left out was the fact that aspresident of the United States Mr. Obama speaks frequently on many issues and holds press conferences where he answers questions about specific policies.
• News reports only gave parts of quotes from both candidates, and left out some quotes/explanations that would give the reader a different impression of various points.
• Almost every news article on the debate pointed out that President Obama never mentioned the recently publicized video of Mitt Romney saying 47% of Americans will not vote for him because they pay no taxes.  But none of these reports point out that Romney never mentioned the recently publicized video of candidate Obama in 2007 speaking to a black audience suggesting that the federal government discriminated against the victims of Hurricane Katrina by giving more help to the white victims of 9-11 and Hurricane Andrew.
• A Chicago Tribune report from Reuters stated, "Fact checkers took issue with some of assertions by [Mr. Romney], like the number of people unemployed."  But that same report made no mention of fact checkers taking issue with anything Mr. Obama asserted.

First watch all or a good part of the debate.  Then read/watch multiple news sources analyzing the debate.    How accurate are the news reports, based upon what you heard in the debate?