Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) tweeted last night that Mitt Romney “shot his whole wad” and repeatedly spelled President Obama’s name “Oboma,” the Washington City Paper notes. The tweets prompted at least one person to ask if she was drunk.

“Whatever it was, Norton was acting pretty sober this morning when, after attention from DCist
and elsewhere, she mass-deleted  tweets from last night and the
vice-presidential debate, as well as some seemingly-unrelated tweets
that also mentioned the president. Fortunately, they were all grabbed by the Sunlight Foundation.”

The Gallup daily tracking poll shows Mitt Romney has opened up a six point lead over President Obama among likely voters, 51% to 45%.

It’s the first time he’s had a lead outside the survey’s margin of error.

Markos Moulitsas: “Romney’s entire advantage comes from a massive lead in the South. Now
sure, some of that may be Florida, but the state-level polling certainly
doesn’t show that. So Romney is driving up big margins in Texas,
Alabama, Oklahoma, Mississippi and other such presidentially irrelevant
states?”

“If you look at the movie, he didn’t say it. Somebody in the
audience said it and he repeated it, and I’ve talked to him about it and
he apologized and that’s it.”

— Tommy Thompson (R), quoted by the AP, on remarks by his son caught on video suggesting President Obama should go back “to Chicgao — or Kenya.”

From President Obama’s Twitter feed:

Taegan Goddard: “He kept Romney on the defensive and came prepared … It was devastatingly effective.” OFA.BO/Qt2KiR #ObamaWinsDebate

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 17, 2012

Jimmy Kimmel asks people on the street who won last night’s presidential debate — several hours before it even took place.

[Read more…]

Major Garrett: “What also became clear after the dust began to settle from the rumble on Long Island was the electoral map has narrowed and Obama’s team, while conceding nothing publicly, is circling the wagons around Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. Plouffe said Obama remains strong in all four states but would not discuss the specifics of internal polling or voter contact analytics, saying only Obama has ‘significant leads’ in all four.”

“It is uncharacteristic of team Obama to concede any terrain but Plouffe offered no such assurances about Obama’s position in North Carolina, Virginia or Florida. Romney advisers have seen big gains in all three states and now consider wins likely, though not guaranteed, in all three. They are similarly upbeat about prospects in Colorado but not confident enough to predict victory. That Plouffe left Colorado off his list of states where Obama’s leading and can withstand a Romney surge might be telling.”

Matt Lauer asked Paul Ryan who would win the Wisconsin vs. Ohio State football game on November 17, Yahoo reports.

Lauer: “I would like you to tell the people of Ohio who’s going to win that game.”

Ryan: “They spoiled us last year. We spoiled them the year before–Jane and I were at that game. It really depends on who has the better record is going to lose, because that’s what happens.”

Lauer: “Who’s going to win the game, congressman? Tell the people of Ohio who’s going to win the game.”

Ryan: “It always depends on who’s got the better record. It’s up in Camp Randall [Stadium] this year. It’s up in Madison this year. Home field advantage works well. But if we’re doing better, they’ll beat us, and if they have a better record, then we’ll beat them. That’s always how it goes between the Badgers and the Buckeyes. How’s that for an answer?”

Lauer: “It’s a terrible answer. It’s OK, I’m out of time–you’re lucky.”

Religion News Service: “The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association removed language labeling Mormonism a ‘cult’ from its website after the famed preacher met with Republican nominee Mitt Romney last week and pledged to help his presidential campaign.”

David Challian: “President Obama has not stepped foot in the state since his convention drew to a close nearly six weeks ago. After he touches down in Iowa and New Hampshire this week, every other battleground state will have gotten some in-person Obama post-convention love except for the Tar Heel state.”

Dick Morris: “This debate goes to Romney. It seals his momentum and will lead to a big win.”

First Read: “The answer comes down to this: Have the past two weeks been about Romney getting a second look from voters and seeing a different Romney than has been portrayed over the past year? Or have the past two weeks been about Democrats and swing voters being disappointed in Obama’s first debate performance? If it’s the former, you could argue that the debate didn’t change too much in the race. If it’s the latter, you could argue that it did. Once again, we’ll be paying attention to the polls that come out next week.”

Harry Enten: “I’m not expecting much, if any, movement from this debate. If it does
occur, it will be favorable towards President Obama. He’ll take that, in
this tight race, as every little bit counts. But remember that
predictions about post-debate movements are not perfect and that any
movements or lack thereof could be erased by next week‘s debate.”

“No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great
nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we
stand for.”

— President Obama, commenting on the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Libya on September 12, 2012.

Mitt Romney insisted in last night’s debate Obama didn’t portray it as a terrorist attack.

First Read: “In fact, almost all of the exchanges drove this point home: These candidates really don’t like each other. The two men constantly interrupted each other; they circled each other like prizefighters in the boxing ring; and they also even got into each other’s faces. Overall, last night showed that both Obama and Romney are fighters, but they also demonstrated the worst stereotype of why so many people hate politics. It is also worth asking if a debate that featured two VERY alpha-male performances end up turning off swing voting women who would prefer a tad more comity in their politics and less cable-TV/talk radio style bravado. And where was the empathy? From the get-go, it was clear neither candidate knew how to connect with the questioners very well.”

Washington Post:
“At least some people closely watching the contest — those betting
money on the election’s outcome — did offer a kind of consensus view:
President Obama soundly beat expectations in his second contest against
Gov. Mitt Romney… The votes on well-known political betting site
Intrade.com reflected a jump in the president’s chances from 61.7
percent just before the debate to 64.1 percent shortly afterward.
Similar jumps could be seen in other markets, too. At the betting site
Betfair.com, the president’s chances jumped 2.7 percentage points over
that period, and on the Iowa Electronic Markets, run out of the
University of Iowa, his chances were up about 2.4 percentage points in
that timeframe.” 

A new Sienna poll in Connecticut finds Rep. Chris Murphy (D) leading Linda McMahon (R) for U.S. Senate by just two points, 46% to 44%.

Said pollster Don Levy: “Connecticut residents now have high negatives towards both McMahon and Murphy with over one in ten viewing both candidates unfavorably. Murphy is underperforming relative to the top of his ticket while McMahon has more support among most groups than does Romney. This one may be decided on who turns out and how the last minute deciders feel as they walk into the polls on November 6th.”

In the presidential race, President Obama leads Mitt Romney by 15 points, 53% to 38%.

Despite all the fireworks over taxes, oil and Libya, ABC News says the most buzz-worthy social media moment of last night’s presidential debate was Mitt Romney’s comment about “binders full of women.”

“The inadvertently funny comment came in response to a question about pay equity for women… Romney was explaining that as the governor of Massachusetts searching for qualified women to fill cabinet posts, women’s groups brought him ‘binders full of women’ who were good candidates.”

The phrase now has a hilarious Tumblr account, Facebook page and Twitter handle.

More seriously, David Bernstein reports Romney’s account of the “binders full of women” wasn’t even accurate.