President Barack Obama received more speaking time than Republican nominee Mitt Romney during all three presidential debates.
Cumulatively, over the span of the three debates, Obama received 8 minutes and 8 seconds more time to make his case for re-election to the American people than Republican nominee Mitt Romney, or 128 minutes and 36 seconds to Romney’s 120 minutes and 28 seconds.
At the first debate, moderated by Jim Lehrer at the University of Denver, Obama received 42 minutes and 50 seconds, compared to Romney’s 38 minutes and 32 seconds, according to the CNN debate clock.
During the second debate, hosted at Hofstra University and moderated by Candy Crowley, the CNN debate clock showed that Obama spoke for 44 minutes and 4 seconds, and Romney spoke for 40 minutes and 50 seconds.
“We are quite aware of the clock, for both of you,” Crowley had promised during the debate.
The final debate, hosted at Lynn University and moderated by Bob Schieffer, represented slimmest time difference yet, according to the CNN debate clock. Obama spoke for 41 minutes and 42 seconds, while Romney spoke for 41 minutes and 7 seconds.
Still, on Monday, Obama interrupted Romney several times. At one point, the president pointed out that the GOP presidential nominee “had the floor for a while.”
The vice presidential debate at Centre College in Kentucky, moderated by Martha Raddatz, similarly favored Vice President Joe Biden. National Review reported that Biden spoke for 1 minute and 22 seconds longer than Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan.