Official Debate #1. Snark here.

[clever name]

I'm sad to say I think Romney did very well. Not what I was hoping for when the race seems so close.

[Jungle Red]

I want Rachel Maddow. If the debates ever get into womens' rights and gay marriage, she's the first one I'd go to.

[strummergirl]

Romney is getting credit with the etch-a-sketch meme being used in his debate. Yup, let's drop his vague platform and then, as Chris Hayes said, piggy-back Obama on the popular things. So here's to the sociopathic stylings of Willard Romney!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

God, all day on Facebook I saw a Right-wing meme about "Lib PBS anchor Jim Lehrer." Rachel Maddow moderating would make the Right collectively explode.

[madbrian]

The MSNBC pundits are furious with Obama, saying he let Romney off too easy and wasn't aggressive enough. Matthews and Schultz are beside themselves with rage.

[Reginald Tresilian]

I thought Romney did exactly what he needed to do. The fact that very little he said was true probably doesn't matter.

I thought Obama was too laid back.

[FindingNamo]

"Matthews and Schultz are beside themselves with rage."

aka their go-to emotions...

[clever name]

I agree Reg. He was too reserved.

[madbrian]

I think Obama played this as a frontrunner, safe, perhaps to a fault. It'll be interesting to see if this moves the polls at all. It'll also be interesting to see how the far right responds - will they be thrilled that Romney won the debate, or pissed that he abandoned much of their talking points?

[FindingNamo]

There will be a 1.5% bump for Romney.

[strummergirl]

Yeah my twitter feed was exploding with people very upset "the 47%" was never mentioned. I am trying to think about in what specific way he could have used it without making it be a cynical 30 second soundbite ad.

I was on Chris Hayes' side on the MSNBC panel (though he had some critical tweets too). I didn't even have to see Tweety's reaction to know what it was. Him and Andrew Sullivan often share a brain and Andrew Sullivan had a nervous breakdown on twitter over this.

[Yawper]

I think Obama was overwhelmed, not reserved. It's obvious who of the two is used to presenting business plans and thinking on his feet. Obama didn't present well at all.

[uncageg]

I had to work. Caught the last 5 minutes and the wrap-up. Called some friends to hear how it went and the general consensus was that Obama kind of let Romney lecture him and didn't "fight back". They said je was too reserved.

[Jungle Red]

I'm wondering how much these debates really matter. Most people I know are either staunch Obama supports or staunch Republican supports that can't be swayed.

[doodlenyc]

Obama did a terrible job...first, why was he looking down the whole time like a child being scolded?!

Romney was lying through his teeth and wasnt challenged at all! I'm angry!!

[Yawper]

Most people I know are either staunch Obama supports or staunch Republican supports that can't be swayed.

Debates and campaigns aren't aimed at voters who hold staunch positions.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

If I'm remembering correctly, people griped about the moderators in the last election year, too. I feel like the mods only have a certain amount of leeway in how much they're allowed to challenge the candidates. Does anyone know more about how it all works? Didn't the cast of Newsnight try so hard to change the format against odds that were ultimately insurmountable?

And even if it's not in the rules, anyone who comes down on one candidate without coming down equally on the other is going to be accused of bias, not that the moderators aren't accused of bias all the time anyway.

I was pretty neutral on Jim Leher, so I'm curious what others who were unhappy with him would have liked to see.

[Yawper]

The only thing Lehrer didn't do was hold them to their time limits. The structure of this debate was to have some direct back and forth between the candidates after the opening response to each question. Lehrer's lack of time control lost them one of the six proposed 15 minute segments.

btw Obama got about 5 more minutes of time than Romney, but the difference in presentation made it seem otherwise

[strummergirl]

Lehrer did not seem clear on each segment transition. I mean he let one of the tangents Romney and Obama were fighting about to segue in but I was not entirely sure what they were originally talking about in the first place.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I think you both make valid points. It did seem like both Romney and Obama were able to steamroll over him.

[Jungle Red]

NBC Poll about the debate's influence on voting

[Jim Colyer]

According to the CNN poll, 67% thought Mitt Romney won the debate. Only 25% thought Obama won.

[uncageg]

So all over the place I am seeing "Mitt lied" and posts about PBS going away. Just throwing it out there....do you think it was Obama's strategy to just let Romney dig his own hole? Did Mitt really win this debate?

[strummergirl]

I think that maybe the instant-reactions in social media have already showed how nothing is in a vacuum. By tomorrow there will be more questions on the upcoming jobs report effecting the race than this debate.

Obama's campaign will have a lot of video evidence to take and use against Romney's own platform vis a vis his etch-a-sketch moment in the debate.

[Jungle Red]

My Republican friends are saying Romney won.
My Democratic friends are saying Obama won.

I say it's too early to tell. One of my huge Republican supporting friends had one post the entire night: "I'm staying away from political debates from now on and I'm not going to vote for either of these assholes."

I probably shouldn't put that in quotes, because that's not exactly what he said. When I went to find it, he had deleted it. But his page still shows he likes Romney and Ryan.

[Yawper]

do you think it was Obama's strategy to just let Romney dig his own hole?

Katty Kay of the BBC speculated about that on The Charlie Rose Show. She wondered if Obama's lack of attack was a conscious choice in order to preserve his likability but the other panelists thought Obama just had a bad night.

I listened to the bulk of the debate on NPR (radio). At the start there was a comment (local guy or Jim Lehrer?) about these debates being the most public job interview in the world.