Biden, Paul Ryan square off in vice-presidential debate

DANVILLE, Ky. — Vice President Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan squared off Thursday night in this year’s lone vice-presidential debate, playing roles that few would have expected two weeks ago.

For Ryan, the job was to keep up a sudden surge of Republican momentum. For Biden, by contrast, the job was to find a way to stop it.

The debate began with a discussion of Libya, where an attack on a U.S. consulate on Sept. 11 killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. Ryan sought to portray that attack — and the administration’s varying explanations of it — as indications of a weakness in President Obama’s foreign policy.

“What we are watching on our TV screens is the unraveling of the Obama foreign policy, which is making . . . us less safe,” Ryan said.

Biden retorted with the night’s first one-liner, defending the administration’s handling of the issue.

“With all due respect, that’s a bunch of malarkey,” he said, interrupting Ryan.

Neither had faced a debate quite like this one. In 2008, Biden had a much different opponent in then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), who had little experience in national politics.

Biden and Ryan spent weeks preparing for their 90 minutes. Ryan held at least three rehearsals, then spent days in a “debate camp” in Virginia. Biden’s aides went so far as to construct a mock-up of the debate set for the vice president’s practice sessions in Wilmington, Del., according to a CNN report.

Earlier Thursday, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had a 30-minute meeting with evangelist Billy Graham, 93, at Graham’s estate in Montreat, N.C. It was the first time that Romney met Graham, who has led religious revivals for more than 50 years and met with every U.S. president since Harry S. Truman.

The meeting was closed to reporters, but photographers and television producers were permitted to record its final moments. The two discussed the death of George Romney, the candidate’s father, whom Graham knew.

Graham then asked Romney what he could do to help.

“Prayer is the most helpful thing you can do for me,” the candidate said. “And what you’re planning, what your son has shown me is going to be very, very helpful. And I appreciate that. It’s going to be terrific.”

Graham, Franklin Graham and Romney then prayed and as the meeting ended, campaign aides said that Billy Graham told Romney: “I’ll do all I can to help you. And you can quote me on that.” However, aides did not respond to requests for clarification about what Romney meant regarding Franklin Graham’s plans.

Meanwhile, Obama spoke in Miami, and criticized Romney for the more moderate tone he has taken in recent weeks.

“He’s trying to go through an extreme makeover,” Obama said. “After running for more than a year in which he called himself ‘severely conservative,’ Mitt Romney is trying to convince you that he was severely kidding.”

Also, Obama’s campaign continued to face criticism over the administration’s handling of the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador there and three other Americans.