First Debate Gave Romney a Chance

Charlie Cook: “A strong performance in that first debate would have probably closed
the sale for Obama. Instead, his lackluster showing shifted a bunch of
voters who had seemed to be drifting gradually in his direction back
into neutral, with some reversing course and moving into Romney’s
column.”

“This race is still a challenge for Romney.
Although tied nationally in this new NBC/WSJ and most other polling, he
still carries a great deal of scar tissue in some of the swing
states–most notably, Ohio and Wisconsin, but also Colorado and Iowa.
Romney is clearly better situated to win the popular vote than the
electoral vote; Obama is much closer than Romney to the magic 270 number
in the Electoral College. But this is a horse race, a very close one
that can still go either way, and that was not the case before the first
debate. The debates–and I would say all three of them–hit a reset
button for Romney and put him back into this contest.”