Michelle Obama calls debate 'awesome'

First lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday called the previous night's debate "such an awesome, awesome event."

"Look, I am always proud of my husband," she told the crowd at a campaign event on Long Island. "But let me tell you, I am so glad that last night was just an awesome, awesome event for him. And it gets me fired up and ready to go."

The first lady was in the audience on Tuesday night during the second presidential debate and remained in New York on Wednesday to film Friday's appearance on "Live! With Kelly and Michael" and to speak at two campaign events.

At the first event, she spoke to a small fundraising lunch for about 300 people, according to a White House press pool report.

The first lady was also positive in her response to the first presidential debate, despite members of the campaign and President Obama admitting it was not his best performance. That debate took place on her wedding anniversary with Obama. She told the crowd they didn't really get to celebrate that event.

"We got a quick little dinner. That's about it," she said. "But it's OK. On Nov. 7 we're going to party hard."

At Tuesday's debate, the first lady wore pink, which happened to match the color of Ann Romney's dress. The president has been wearing a pink bracelet for breast cancer awareness month, but it is unclear whether the candidates' wives chose their wardrobe for that reason as well.

A few reports on Wednesday morning noted that the first lady clapped during the debate, technically breaking the rules, earning her scattered criticism. The debate audience, which had been warned to remain silent during the debate, applauded when moderator Candy Crowley corrected Mitt Romney during a testy exchange between the candidates over Libya. Michelle Obama also clapped on that occasion.

The agreement for silence from the audience was in the same memorandum that both presidential campaigns agreed to before the debate, in cooperation with the Commission on Presidential Debates. Several other guidelines from that agreement were broken on Tuesday night, including the restriction on Crowley not to ask follow-up questions or comment on answers, and the rule that neither candidate would ask the other a direct question.

Updated at 3:05 p.m.

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