President Obama and Republican Party presidential candidateMitt Romney debated each otherfor the first time Wednesday night.The debate was held at the University of Denver in Colorado.Experts say the American economyis the top issue of the election campaign.And the debate centered on economic concerns.Mr. Obama started by noting that, when he took office,the United States was having its most severe economic crisissince the nineteen thirties.He said that, in the past thirty months,five million jobs had been created in private industry.But he admitted a lot remains to be done.One of the big questions of the campaignis how best to reduce the federal budget deficit.Mr. Romney has proposed lowering taxesas a way to lift economic growth.But the former Massachusetts governor sharply disagreedwith Mr. Obama's descriptions of his tax cut plan."I'm not looking for a five-trillion-dollar tax cut.What I have said is I won't put in place a tax cutthat adds to the deficit. That's part one.So there's no economist can say Mitt Romney's tax planadds five trillion dollars if I sayI will not add to the deficit with my tax plan."Mr. Romney also said he would not reduce the share of taxespaid by high income individuals.Mr. Obama, however, said his opponent's planfor changing the tax system would not work."The fact is, if you are lowering the ratesthe way you described, Governor,then it is not possible to come up with enough deductions and loopholes that only affect high-income individualsto avoid either raising the deficit or burdening the middle class."The candidates also debated the president's health care program,which some Americans call "Obamacare."Mr. Romney said it would hurt the economy and cost jobs.The president said that when he took office,problems in the nation's health care systemwere just as urgent as the jobless rate.He said health costs drove government spendingand troubled businesses and families."It was not just that small businesses were seeing costs skyrocketand they could not get affordable coverageeven if they wanted to provide it to their employees.It was not just that this was the biggest driver of our federal deficit,our overall health care costs.But it was families who worried about going bankrupt if they got sick."In closing, Mr. Obama said he wants to buildon the strengths of his first four years in the White House.Mr. Romney said re-electing the presidentwould hurt the middle class.He promised to replace the country's new health care programand to create millions of news jobs.The two candidates are to meet again October sixteenth.And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report.