Damages

For those wondering whether Obama's sleep walking through the first debate constituted shooting himself in the foot or something more drastic, the new Pew Poll has an answer: a gut shot or worse. They see a twelve point turn around for Romney from earlier in September. How much is due to the actual debate and how much to media hysteria is an open question, but their is no doubt that Obama's performance crushed Democrats and thrilled Republicans.

Can the damage be repaired in further debates? TBD, but I'm not optimistic. The big question is whether Obama has it in him to smoothly and politely call out a liar face to face.

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