Both candidates came out swinging in Tuesday night's second presidential debate. A noted historian and political science professor says President Barack Obama improved his game this time around - but that Governor Mitt Romney held his own.
The debate took the form of a town hall meeting at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, where the candidates squared off in the opening moments on gas prices, the economy, and taxes. Prompted by moderator Candy Crowley of CNN, citizens - self-identified as "uncommitted voters" - asked questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues in the give-and-take that found both the Democratic incumbent and GOP nominee fighting for momentum going into the home stretch of the race for the White House.
Associated Press says a "re-energized" Obama showed up last night in a follow-up to his "limp performance" in Debate #1 on October 3. But Romney, says AP, "didn't give an inch" in the "pushy, interruption-filled encounter." (Related article - Debate fallout: The mammogram lie)
Dr. Paul A. Rahe, professor of history at Hillsdale College in Michigan, explains why, in his estimation, Romney came out on top.
"It seems to me that when you have a draw between a president of the United States and a challenger, the challenger wins; and when you have a president of the United States whose policies have obviously failed, that he's trying to sell you a bill of goods for the future, he's at a real disadvantage in the debate," he offers.
"So I think Romney did well enough that he will build upon what he achieved in the first debate when he throttled Obama."
Dr. Charles Dunn of Regent University concurs with Rahe regarding who was the "victor" in the debate.
"President Obama had an edginess about him throughout - the tone of his voice overshadowed some of what he said," Dunn observes. "Governor Romney had little or no edginess in his voice; he was very straightforward and commanding in his voice. So I give this debate to Governor Romney, but also credit President Obama with doing a far better job than he did in the first debate."
Dunn, like Rahe, believes Romney's "challenger" status will benefit him coming out of Debate #2.
"The relatively low percentage of Americans who've not made up their minds - these so-called 'undecided' - usually break for the challenger," he remarks. "So did Governor Romney do anything that would damage his momentum? No, he did not. Did President Obama stop the bleeding of his campaign? Yes, he probably stopped the bleeding somewhat. But still the edge in the campaign, the momentum, has to go with Romney."
Rahe observes Romney missed several opportunities to confront Obama on Libya, claiming he got flustered when Crowley sided with the president, who claimed he referred to the murders in Benghazi as "acts of terror" during a speech in the Rose Garden at the White House the day after the attacks.
"You know, if you leave aside the Libya business where Candy Crowley sided with Obama and told an untruth - it's as simple as that about what went on in the Rose Garden that day," says the political historian. "What Obama said was that it was an act of senseless violence, not that it was a terrorist act. Now, an act of senseless violence is consistent with the line that they were peddling - that this was just a demonstration and a reaction to the movie."
The third and final presidential debate is on Monday (October 22) at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. Two weeks from the following day, voters across America head to the polls.
Obama likes free enterprise?
Conservative activist and former presidential candidate Gary Bauer says he found it shocking that the president tried to take the conservative position in Tuesday night's debate on issues like drilling for gas and oil, the right to bear arms, and free enterprise.
The president of the Campaign for Working Families Political Action Committee says the American people can see through Obama's charade.
"To suddenly hear a guy who in college who studied socialism [and] wrote papers on socialism suddenly saying I believe in free enterprise and the free markets -- I just don't think it passes the straight face test," he tells OneNewsNow.
"And not only that, it may actually outrage some of his voters on the left who hate free enterprise and free markets, who hate the right to bear arms, [and] who hate the energy industry."
Bauer does not think Obama did himself any favors by trying to talk like a conservative.