US Presidential hopefuls have gone head-to-head on the economy and credit crunch but waited for foreign policy issues before getting in any personal shots.

In a generally good-natured debate, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain fielded questions from so-called uncommitted voters.

Barack Obama suggested, “The middle class need a rescue package and that means tax cuts for the middle class. It means help for home owners so they can stay in their homes, it means we are helping state and local governments set up road projects and bridge projects which keep people in their jobs,” he said.

John McCain said, “ As President of the United States, I would order the Secretary of the Treasury to immediately buy up the bad home-loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes – the diminished value of those homes and let people make those payments and stay in their homes.”

But with McCain seen widely as having been beaten in the first debate he bided his time until his speciality, foreign affairs, came up before trying to make up lost ground.

In a pointed attack on his rival, McCain accused Obama of “ being wrong about Iraq and the surge, he was wrong about Russia when they committed aggression against Georgia , and in his short career, McCain said “Obama does not understand out national security challenges – we don’t have time for on the job training.”

Barack Obama responded: “I don’t understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 while Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda are setting up base camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us. That was Senator McCain’s judgement and it was the wrong judgement.”

With both sides claiming victory it could all hang on the third live debate later this month before the US public has any hint of just who will be moving into the White House.

Copyright © 2012 euronews