Will Romney’s Debate Win Make A Difference?
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Barack Obama looked and acted like he would rather be anywhere than in Denver last night. His performance was uninspired and even boring. The man known for being one of the best orators since JFK was sleeping on the job. Will it make a big difference to voters? Probably not, at least in the long run.
When Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) predicted on Sunday that Mitt Romney’s stellar debate performance would give us “a brand-new race with 33 days to go,” he was derided for not getting the memo about lowering expectations for his candidate. Now, after Wednesday night’s debate, elated Romney supporters, as well as some less-partial observers, are hailing Christie as a bold visionary: There is an unusually strong consensus among pundits and insta-polls that the revved-up Romney beat an oddly low-key President Obama handily in their first debate. But while Christie is decidedly correct that there are 33 days before election day, will his soothsaying about Romney turning the candidate’s lagging poll numbers around come true?
Romney failed to seal the deal: Obama was thrown off his game by the “Massachusetts Mitt” who showed up to debate him, suddenly “obsessive about portraying himself as a moderate,” says Jonathan Chait at New York. But “the instantaneous, echo chamber reaction that is handing Romney an overwhelming victory is overstated.” In selling his magical, pain-free policies, Romney sometimes veered “from smooth to oily.” Obama played it too safe, and “if Romney was winning, and Obama needed to disqualify him,” that would matter. But Romney isn’t winning.
“The return of Massachusetts Mitt”
Obama just threw the race: I’m a huge Obama fan, but this debate “was a disaster for the president for the key people he needs to reach,” says Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Beast. Romney appeared authoritative and persuasive — “my gut tells me he sold a few voters on a change tonight” — while Obama came across as “meandering, weak, professorial,” even boring. And his decision to pull his punches won’t help him with independents. Obama blew it, big time, and “may even have lost the election tonight.”
“Live-blogging the first presidential debate 2012”
The debate at least changed the narrative: The media coverage coming out of Denver will be “solidly pro-Romney,” and that will “move the horse race polls, at least a bit,” in his direction, says Jonathan Bernstein at A Plain Blog About Politics. How much and for how long? That depends some on “whether Team Obama will be able to counterattack” effectively. But in the end, this was a dull, numbers-filled debate with no big gaffes and no great zingers. Add in “that there aren’t all that many undecided voters out there,” and my guess is that “significant shifts, even in temporary bounces, are not all that likely.”
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Obama was only boxing with one glove last night and a patch over one eye! Lookout for round 2 of 3, however!
I’m thinking, he had all that Turkey/ Syria stuff he probably was dealing with and had no desire to be next to a lyin liar. That said, I hope he learned how Willard does the Gish Gallop and stops it next time. I’m thinking the next one is the town hall setting right, this is PO’s strength talking directly to people. Willard hates regular people and it shows time after time, so hopefully kickass O will be out.
Well put Rick!
Jess I have a tendency to be a wide eyed optimist at times, but I agree with you that I doubt this debate (and there are two more to go) will change the voting map in the swing states. I think they will still “swing” toward Obama.
You gotta look into the cross tabs of this CNN poll. There were no liberal voices at all, only moderates and conservatives. Also, too it was skewed to men, 50+ and southerners, not a really good snapshot of the country if you ask me. The fact checkers are on the job this morning, calling Robme out on his lies. This they should have been doing all along, instead of expecting PO to come out swinging. That they are pissed off about PO not calling Robme on the lies, but giving said Robme a pass says it all. Oh and the answer to your question, no makes no difference. It might give him a temporary bounce nationally but won’t make a difference in the states where he needs it to. Hope this helps 😉