Day after debate, Obama, Romney keep on punching

“There’s an innate decency about this cat,” Mr. Miller said. “You do hear the word ‘gosh’ come out of his pie hole.”

He then acknowledged to the crowd in Leesburg that he was trying to stall for time because he had forgotten the last name of the next speaker, Rep. Frank R. Wolf, the longtime Republican representative from the region.

Tuesday’s debate featured the two men going toe to toe — literally — on many of the big issues of the campaign, including energy policy, taxes and last month’s terrorist assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans dead.

Mr. Romney appeared to stumble when he questioned whether the president had mentioned terrorism in his initial post-Libya speech in the Rose Garden. Mr. Romney said the administration was slow to spot what all sides now say was a terrorist assault.

In fact, Mr. Obama had mentioned “acts of terror” in that speech, though not specifically about the Libya attack. He and his administration spent much time in the days after the attack, including Mr. Obama himself in a speech to the United Nations, blaming an anti-Islam video.

On Wednesday, Ms. Psaki, his campaign spokeswoman, said that moment “exposed” Mr. Romney “as the guy who wanted to use Libya, use the tragic events overseas, as a political football.”

At his rallies, though, Mr. Romney did not address Libya, instead focusing on his domestic message and continuing his recent practice of trying to personalize his message.

The two men meet for one more debate Monday in Florida, with the focus squarely on foreign policy.

• Stephen Dinan reported from Chesapeake, Va.

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