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Debate moderator Candy Crowley interjected during Mitt Romney's remarks in Tuesday's presidential debate, saying that President Obama "did in fact" call the attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya an act of terror the day after the incident.

After a poor performance in the first presidential debate two weeks ago, President Barack Obama came back strong in the second one, winning perceived victories over Mitt Romney in two instant-reaction polls -- one of debate-watching registered voters, the other of debate-watchers who went into the debate uncommitted to either candidate.

USA TODAY's Paul Davidson, Tim Mullaney, Gregory Korte, Susan Davis and Aamer Madhani took a deeper look at some of the claims Obama and Romney made in the second debate.

The clash between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama in a town hall-style meeting in Long Island could decide the outcome of the election. Even as I write this, it sounds over-dramatic, putting far too much weight on one event.

For candidates who want to prepare for every possible question that could be thrown at them, the format for Tuesday night's presidential debate is slightly terrifying: It is a town hall-style debate, which means that the questions come from uncommitted voters. When political reporters are posing the questions, the candidates usually have a good idea what to expect. But when members of the public get the chance to weigh in, the candidates can sometimes face curve balls that leave them flummoxed.

The Obama campaign appears to be taking nearly every opportunity ahead of the second presidential debate to tell Americans what to expect from President Obama, while the Romney camp has remained essentially mum – a sharp contrast to the days before the first debate when the parallel strategy was to lower expectations.

Losing ground to Republican Mitt Romney on a host of issues, President Barack Obama faces a serious challenge to put his re-election bid back on track when the two men face off on Tuesday in their second debate.

Paul Ryan debating Joe Biden wasn't quite the same television draw as Sarah Palin versus Biden was four years ago. An estimated 51.4 million people watched Ryan, the Republican challenger, debate Vice President Biden, a Democrat, on Thursday night, said Nielsen, the company that measures television audiences.

Vice President Joe Biden came out on top of Thursday night’s vice presidential debate with Republican challenger Paul Ryan, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. The energetic Biden claimed a seven-point victory – 42 percent to 35 percent – among registered voters, with a similar margin among independents. Nearly a quarter of registered voters and about a third of independents were unsure who did a better job during the debate at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.