The president has arrived at the debate hall.

And the Romney campaign is already e-mailing about its “rapid-response” site.

In fairness, the Obama campaign is up and running, too.

For those watching at home, consider this: Tonight is the 20th wedding anniversary for Barack and Michelle Obama.

Greetings, I'm Meg Woolhouse. I cover economic news for The Boston Globe, Boston.com, and BostonGlobe.com. I'll be especially interested to hear -- and parse -- the candidates' views of Mitt Romney's tenure as governor of Massachusetts. Hopefully we'll also learn more about both candidates' job creation and economic recovery plans tonight as well!

Audience told their seats can disappear. "If you break the rules, a button will be pushed, and you’ll be swimming with the fishes."

Hi all, I'm Chelsea Conaboy. I cover health care for the Globe and on the White Coat Notes blog on Boston.com. I'm anxious to see a fuller conversation about the federal health law and its relationship to the state's 2006 law. As Rob said, while the broader national debate has focused a lot on the Affordable Care Act, the candidates have not spent much time on it to date.

Beth Healy here - Globe financial writer helping fact check on Romney's career at Bain and related business matters

Ann Romney walks over to embrace Michelle Obama as they are introduced. Believe it is the first time they have met.

There is a sisterhood for candidate spouses, who endure plenty of angst in long race.

Behind Ann Romney is Scott Romney, the nominee’s older brother.

For a presidential debate veteran, Michelle Obama appears nervous.

ANALYSIS: The stakes for Mitt Romney in tonight’s debate are, as they say in Denver, a mile high. Challengers usually have more at stake in a debate, and they can gain or lose much in a single sentence.

Romney knows this well; his father, George, famously withdrew from his 1968 presidential campaign after saying he had been brainwashed by US generals in Vietnam. Mitt Romney has learned – some would so over-learned – that lesson. When he veers off script, he has had problems. But a debate that seems to be scripted might not be enough for him. So he has spent weeks preparing for off-the-cuff attacks, as contradictory as that may sound. His team wants him to stay on message without seeming to be reading from a script.

Romney is a practiced debater. This will be Romney’s 20th debate in this campaign, with the others coming in the Republican primaries. He has not had a one-on-one debate in a general election since his 2002 gubernatorial race against Shannon O’Brien.

Obama, while perceived by many to be the better debater, has not had nearly as much live practice recently; the president has not been in a debate since 2008, when he faced Republican nominee John McCain. The challenge for both men is clear: they will be trying to show that they understand the concerns of everyday Americans in a difficult economy. Obama and Romney will be standing across from each, lobbing attacks and counter-attacks, but their mission is to try to connect in a personal way to the television viewers they cannot see, and win over the voters who will determine who is inaugurated in January.

After networks kick off their broadcasts, moderator Jim Lehrer opens the debate. He has been in his seat for several minutes after imploring the audience to be silent. The candidates are about to join him on stage.

Obama and Romney enter and shake hands at center stage. The money shot. Obama will get the first question, the result of a draw.

FACT CHECK: Obama’s 5 million jobs created: The figure is roughly accurate, but it includes only private-sector jobs and omits an entire year of Obama’s presidency. In total, there are 261,000 fewer people on nonfarm payrolls today than there were when Obama took office.

Obama says country is still hurting, but debate not about where we are, but where we’re going.

Says Romney wants to try old approaches, “double-down” on policies that created problem, or chart new course of investment.

Romney says Obama believes in "if you will, trickle down government."

Obaa goes back to the education well

Early attention paid to energy -- though with no specifics -- after mostly ignoring it this campaign.

Lehrer asks Obama to talk about “trickle-down.” Critique it.

President talks about educational investment, and plans to hire new teachers and invest in community colleges. Also says he wants to revamp tax code, while closing loopholes, and boost energy production.

“All of this is possible,” with deficit reduction and tax changes, says Obama, but Romney wants $5 trillion tax cut on top of Bush tax cut extensions and more military spending.

Romney, though donors may disagree: “High income people are doing just fine. They’ll do fine whether I’m president or you’re president”