Obama, Romney brace for foreign policy debate clash

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are spending the weekend hammering out their foreign policy battle lines ahead of their final debate, dropping off the campaign trail and dispatching their running mates to court voters in battleground states. Obama-Romney round II: Poll debate heats up

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are spending the weekend hammering out their foreign policy battle lines ahead of their final debate, dropping off the campaign trail and dispatching their running mates to court voters in battleground states.

Journalists-watch-the-first-2012-US-Presidential-Debate-at-the-University-of-Denver-in-Denver-AP-Photo

The debate, which focuses on international affairs, will be the final chance for each to lay out his policy platforms and engage in verbal jousting in front of tens of millions of TV viewers just 15 days before voters head to the polls.

With both sides conceding that the race to November 6 will go down to the wire, and amid a consensus that each candidate won one of the previous two debates, the stakes for Monday's clash are enormous.

And just as they study up on the particulars of US policy about the Middle East, China and Russia, the New York Times reported a possible breakthrough on talks with Iran -- a report quickly squelched by the White House.

Citing unnamed administration officials, the Times reported that Iranian officials had agreed to direct US-Iran talks over Tehran's nuclear program, after years of secret talks between the two sides.

US President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney during the 2nd Presidential debate. AFP photo