According to Politico.com 65.6 million people watched the town hall debate that took place in Hofstra, New York Tuesday night. With all eyes on President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, this debate could have potentially locked up the election for either man. Instead, both men turned in solid performances in an interesting debate indicative of this closely contested race.
Pre-debate
Going into the debate Tuesday night, the candidates were in situations as different as their party platforms. Romney hoped to maintain momentum, while Obama looked to make up for his previous panned performance. Romney’s lauded first debate in Colorado Springs led to a record-breaking boost in the polls. To give Romney’s decisive debate win some perspective, before the first debate, Obama had the support of 50 percent of registered voters to Romney’s 45 percent, according to Gallup. After the debate, the two were tied at 47 percent each.
Game plan
After what many viewed as a lethargic performance in Colorado Springs, Obama needed to show energy and aggression to excite his base. Joe Biden showed the kind of passion the democrats were hoping for from Obama in last week’s vice presidential debate against Paul Ryan. Biden's performs gave Obama a good platform to make up for his lack of a cohesive response to Romney’s attacks against his economic record last week. Since the president is widely considered to be a good speaker, the task of topping his worst debate form was not a particularly tall order.
Romney’s task was trickier. He, like Obama, wanted to top himself in this debate. After dominating the first debate with a mixture of scene stealing aggression and viable attacks on Obama’s economic record, outperforming himself looked to be an unobtainable goal. It was unclear whether or not Mitt’s well-oiled charisma would be up to the task of combatting a revitalized Obama, who is widely considered to be the greater rhetorician.
During the debate
The town hall format proved to be a better platform than the style used in the previous debate, which tried and failed to create a balanced dialogue between Obama and Romney. The increased structure in this debate led to more concise answers from both men. Obama returned to form and went on excellent oratorical bends about women’s employment, contraceptives and other social issues. Obama was weaker on the economy, as he relied on attacking Mitt Romney’s positions rather than substantively defending his own. Overall, Obama sought to confer the message that he is consistent, if not perfect, while his opponent is far more likely to change his views to suit an audience.
On the other hand, Romney’s performance was somewhat less powerful than that of the last debate. Perhaps worn down from the campaign trail, Romney delivered a decent performance full of more centrist views on issues such as taxes than those he espoused during the Republican primaries. This was not surprising, given that the direct audience was undecided voters unlikely to be closely aligned with either major political party. Though this may have been Romney’s central plan of attack, perhaps Romney’s strongest argument was his concession that although Obama is a highly capable speaker, his record does not align with his loftily-framed visions for the country.
Post-debate
Gallup reporting shows that Romney has continued making gains after the second debate. Even so, critical consensus favors Obama. With the president operating in top form, Romney could not recreate the sensation of being viewed as the perceptibly better debater.
Missing links
It would be good to see Romney call Obama out on his failure to provide sufficient protection to the Libyan ambassador in the next debate, rather than arguing about what words he used to describe the attack. Further, it would be good to see Obama attempt make a solid argument for his own economic plan rather than constantly trying to decry Romney’s. Next week’s debate is on social issues, so although these issues may be addressed at some point, the focus is going to be on gay marriage, abortion, contraceptives, healthcare and the like. It is likely that Romney will continue to espouse issues more centralist that those he expressed at other times in his campaign, and that Obama will continue to hold fast to his traditional liberal views.
Even after this last contentious debate, the race is still very close. With Romney making steady gains in the polls and Obama making every effort to regain the ground he lost after the first debate, next week’s debate in Boca Raton could end up determining the presidency.