Up to 60 million viewers are expected to tune into tonight's first presidential debate, at least for the first few minutes.

If President Obama and Mitt Romney want to keep those possible voters hooked beyond their opening statements, Yahoo! finance's Jeff Macke said they need to come out swinging.

"Both candidates have to come out fast," Macke said during the ABC News/Yahoo pre-debate live stream. "Mitt Romney needs to humanize himself. Barack Obama needs to not say things like, 'It could have been worse.' It could have been worse is not a platform."

Half of the debate is dedicated to discussing the economy, but while Romney will likely lob attacks at Obama over high unemployment and slow GDP growth, Macke said those poor numbers aren't entirely the president's fault.

"It's a little like quarterback on a football team," Macke said. "If your team went to the Super Bowl, you're a great quarterback. If they don't, not so much. That's all the president can do is lead. He can't do it all."