Barack Obama belatedly lit up political pyrotechnics in his debate downing of Mitt Romney, but neither side expects the angry clash to break open the White House race in its last 20 days.
There were whoops and cheers inside a room reserved for the Obama campaign at the debate on Long Island, as aides let off steam when their boss, missing in action in the first showdown with Romney, finally showed up for duty.
In the rivals’ first tangle, in Denver two weeks ago, it was Romney who had fire in his belly for the fight, while President Obama meandered hopelessly through a miserable 90 minutes.
But, imperiled by tumbling poll numbers, the president laid on the theatrics in the second town hall debate and finally looked like he wanted a second term.
Longtime Obama watchers scored the debate as Obama’s best political showing since he revived a listless primary campaign with a soaring speech at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Jefferson Jackson dinner in late 2007.
On Tuesday, the rivals roamed the stage, stopping just short of physical confrontation, in the kind of brawl often promised but rarely seen in presidential debates, their obvious mutual dislike palpable.
Romney’s triumph in Denver and Obama’s drowsiness triggered a shift in a race that had been stable for months, as the Republican overtook the president in national polls and chased him down in battleground states.
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said in Long Island, that “whatever ground the president lost in the first debate, he more than made up for here.”
“This is the Barack Obama that the American people wanted to see.”
The second debate, bursting with clashes on Libya, the wealthy Romney’s complicated tax arrangements, health care for women and immigration, opened a grab bag of issues that will frame the election end game.
But despite snap surveys showing a clear win for Obama in the rematch, a swift re-inflation of Obama’s polling cushion seems unlikely and the White House race is still anybody’s game.
Obama’s campaign believes the president has an advantage in the electoral map, but warns the tepid economic recovery will ensure the race will remain a knock-down-drag-out struggle through battleground states.
“We have a closely divided country and we have a tough economy — you put that together and you have a close election,” said senior Obama aide David Plouffe.
But the Obama camp believes exchanges on health care and women’s rights, the cost of college for students and immigration, the president moved votes and shored up his core coalition.
Plouffe seized Obama’s lecture to Romney not to exploit the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi as emblematic of the choice before voters.
“It was an incredibly revealing leadership moment. the president looked like a strong and resolute commander-in chief and Governor Romney looked like a candidate playing politics.”
Republicans dismiss the idea that the president delivered a blow that could define the election.
Indeed, several polls taken immediately after the debate suggested that though Obama won overall, Romney was the more convincing on the key issue of the economy.
The Romney brain trust also believes that their man crossed a political Rubicon after the first debate.
“Something fundamental has altered the trajectory of this race after the first debate,” said Romney’s senior advisor Eric Fehrnstrom.
“People were able to see Mitt Romney for themselves, they didn’t see a caricature of him, they saw a leader.”
Obama hit the road in Iowa and Romney was in Virginia Wednesday, Their itinerary reflected the fact that a slugfest in battlegrounds will decide the November 6 election.
Polls will be closely watched in coming days for post-debate movement ahead of the rivals last clash, on foreign policy in Florida on Monday.
Strategists for both sides believe there may not be that many undecided voters left, so sharp swings seem unlikely, but disagree about Romney’s post-debate polling boost.
Obama aides believe Romney energized core supporters and Republican-leaning independents who would vote for him anyway, and say the president’s numbers in the swing states remained steady.
Romney’s team believes it started to pull voters away from Obama, who were disappointed with his presidency, but needed convincing the Republican was a viable alternative.
“The structure of the race is pretty established now,” Plouffe said, adding that on election night, battleground states would be decided by “one, two, three, four points at the most.”
Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University, agreed that the debate reinforced each candidate’s constituency, but said it left wavering voters in the wilderness.
However, he added: “a large percentage of undecided voters never make up their minds and end up not voting.”
Campaigns eye slog to come after debate fireworks
