FOXNews.com: Romney Pitches Foreign Policy Shift, As Obama Defends Record Abroad

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Romney Pitches Foreign Policy Shift, As Obama Defends Record Abroad Oct 23rd 2012, 02:40 President Obama and Mitt Romney met onstage Monday night in Boca Raton, Fla., for the final showdown of a grueling presidential campaign. The 90-minute debate offers perhaps the last chance for either candidate to shake up the race in any significant way, with two weeks to go until Election Day. The presidential debates this month have been among the most consequential in modern campaign history. Romney entered the debates as the slight underdog in most polls, but since his opening performance, he has surged to pull even with or pass the president. The theme of Monday's forum is foreign policy – subject matter that typically favors an incumbent commander in chief. But while Obama practically has turned the 2011 takedown of Usama bin Laden into a motto for his campaign, Romney has sought to expose weaknesses in other areas of the president's foreign policy. Romney describes the president as weak on Iran and has with other Republicans hammered the administration for its handling of the Libya terror attack – and the denial of security requests in advance of the strike. On the afternoon on Monday's debate, the Romney campaign released a Web video titled "Healed?" It argued that despite Obama's 2008 pitch to "heal" the planet, the world remains full of unrest and violence, particularly in the Middle East. The Obama campaign, for its part, released a series of short videos attempting to portray Romney as unprepared to serve as commander in chief. The campaign also released a TV ad that focuses more on Obama's foreign policy achievements, with the narrator saying the president ended the war in Iraq and has brought back 30,000 U.S. soldiers from Afghanistan, which the video says Romney called Obama's "biggest mistake." The debate Monday offers the usual mix of opportunity and peril for the candidates. One slip-up could drive coverage for days, with precious few left on the calendar. A strong performance by either could turn a post-debate bounce into an Election Day victory.  And the race is tight enough that any movement of the needle out of Monday night's debate could make the difference.   An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll on Sunday showed the president and Romney tied at 47 percent nationally. In the vital swing state of Ohio, a Suffolk University survey released Monday also showed the two tied at 47 percent. Other recent polls have given Obama a slight edge. Monday's 90-minute faceoff is at Lynn University and is moderated by CBS News' Bob Schieffer.

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