We have no idea what internal polling is showing the respective campaigns but we can try to guess. Chait suggests the GOP has been conning the media with Romney’s momentum and it seems it was working in spite of a small pre-debate lift for Obama. The substance of the debate isn’t the issue at this point but thank goodness its behind us with a tailwind:
Romney only has two weeks left to move the needle two points in Ohio, Nevada and Iowa, or Wisconsin and any other tilt-Obama state, and relitigating the facts and memes from last night’s debate are assured to take up at least a couple of critical days. If Romney’s deficit in Ohio is larger than one or two points, then that’s a real lost opportunity. Of course, if the Romney campaign believes they have already brought the race back to a dead-heat in Ohio, losing three days worth of lost comeback isn’t terrible – so long as the president doesn’t outright make gains as a result of the debate.Nate Cohn – Extraordinarily Tight Race With Fourteen Days To Go New Republic 23 Oct 12
Besides agonising over the next Ohio or other state poll guessing the internals is the only game in town.
After a head-fake over North Carolina Romney’s people sent Ryan to Pennsylvania for more of the same. So here we are:
“We know what we know, and they know what they know,” Axelrod added of Romney and his advisers. “We’ll know who’s bluffing and who isn’t in two weeks. And we’re looking forward to it.”“Romney has not been able to knock us out of a single battleground,” added Obama campaign manager Jim Messina.
Greg Sargent – The Obama camp’s view of the race’s final stretch Washington Post 23 Oct 12
We’ll see. “Anybody who thinks those states are in the bag is half in the bag themselves.”
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