5 things we learned from the presidential debate

Romney appeared practiced, at ease, confident and fluent in all things Obama. He aggressively criticized the president's record while also outlining, however vaguely, his own ideas about taxes and the deficit. Obama -- his answers slow, dry and cautious -- looked shaky. When the sparring turned to taxes -- an issue on which voters trust Obama over Romney, according to polls -- Romney played down legitimate questions about his tax plan and stressed again and again that he wants to reduce taxes on middle income families. Opinion: Romney shakes up the race He seized on Vice President Joe Biden's latest verbal miscue about how the middle class has been "buried" by the policies of the last four years.