The debate tonight was nothing short of a good and constructive discussion. Both candidates were passionate and loud. Unlike the first Presidential Debate, no candidate checked out – each put out their points and reached out to the American people.
The verdict? It was a tie..
The moderator was much stronger this debate, she dug in and controlled the discussion. Asked tough questions and prodded candidates to actually answer the questions asked. The visions between the vice presidential candidates were stark, a definite theme difference from the Presidential Debate.
Vice President Biden: Mr. Biden was strong, chuckling, and almost scolding to Congressman Ryan. That being said, he came off very passionate about the issues- especially getting points with his efforts to pick up the middle class. Biden certainly did his job: put Romney on the defensive and try to stop the hemorrhaging in the polls. He will do just this, if the polls don’t shift much, as I suspect they wont, the will likely move the democrats way.
Congressman Ryan: Ryan successfully defended Romney and while obviously avoiding some specifics on social issues made a real argument that sacrifice is needed and strong choices need to be made. Romney he argued was the man to do it. He didn’t do anything to undermine the performance of Romney last week, and the Republicans can be happy about that.
Both campaign camps have claimed a victory of this debate. The Republican camp calling it “embarrassing for the vice president,” noting how many laughs and the amount of times he interrupted Paul Ryan. On the other hand Democrats have noted the lack of substance and details laid out by Paul Ryan. The Democrats say it was a clear win that exposed the lies of the Romney/Ryan ticket.
That being said, whatever way people who watched the debate think it went, this was only a Vice Presidential debate- and people don’t vote for vice presidents. The audience today was probably the base, those who are informed and have a genuine interest in politics. This contrasts the audience of the presidential debate that is multiple times larger and includes some who have less interest.
The fact-checkers are still out…
