The Debate

People make their voting decisions on vague impressions as much as they do by checking a list of positions to determine which candidate they agree with more often than not. For half a century historians have been telling us that Richard Nixon lost the 1960 election because he looked pale and tired in his first debate with John Kennedy. Nixon's famous five o'clock shadow emphasized his pallor and his tendency to sweat heavily made him look worse, compared with the cool calm collected (and covered in pancake make-up) Kennedy.

I doubt that's all of the story. Despite being tied in the  public's mind to a popular outgoing president, Nixon was defeated by a weakening economy in the last month of the 1960 campaign. He said as much himself in his memoir.

Still, people want to look at the candidates side by side, and last night Mitt Romney  looked better than President Obama. Fact checkers this morning are all over Romney's statements, pointing out the numerous places where his claims don't square with reality, but it must be conceded that he looked capable and confident as he spoke. A little too wordy, maybe, but as if he could hardly wait to get started as president.

Our current president looked like he wanted to take a nap. Why is his delivery  so halting, I asked myself. Why does he look down at his podium so much while Romney talks (and talks and talks and talks). He looked like he was tacitly agreeing with all Romney's criticisms of him. It was, frankly, the worst visual impression left by a presidential candidate since Michael Dukakis decided to go for a ride in a tank.

The question, I suppose, is did it make any difference. Polls indicate that ninety percent of the electorate has already decided how to  vote. Was Romney impressive enough either to secure the ten percent who are on the fence, or change the minds of anyone who had been leaning towards Obama?

This morning's Denver Post, headlining that Romney "won" last night's debate, contains an article about undecided voters. The paper hosted fifteen people who said they have not yet made up their minds, and interviewed them after it was over to measure their reactions.

Only one said she had climbed off the fence and now intends to vote for Romney. One other person said he now leans toward the Republican.

That leaves thirteen of fifteen still undecided. Here are a few other comments they made.

"I don't think either of them  said anything they haven't said before. They should have focused more on what they would do specifically in each situation. Romney kept saying he was going to cut costs, and I think it was bad that he couldn't say specifically what he would cut."

"Obama struggled, but he had the misfortune of taking over a bad situation.  Romney seemed more confident, but of course since he's the challenger he could be more confident. I'm still not swayed either way."

"Romney was more relatable to the middle class. Obama, it felt like he was on the defensive. I'm leaning more toward Romney now, and I wasn't expecting that coming in."

The Post reports that the undecided voters didn't like it when Romney criticized Obama but most of them felt Romney did the better job as a debater. If that doesn't make  sense to you, it doesn't to me either.

Enough. It's time to get started on my day. I have a deck to stain.