President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney arrived for tonight’s debate on Long Island, New York.
** QUICK HITS. Will the Ambien-fed Barack Obama of Denver show up tonight on Long Island or the amphetamine-fueled Joe Biden of last week? Or something in between? … It’s hard to believe that Obama will be any less than he was in 2008, when he was certainly good enough for John McCain and Hillary Clinton. Which should make him good enough for Mitt Romney. … Unless we imagine that Romney has somehow morphed into a fellow wearing a cape with an “S” on his chest. … Meanwhile, the world seems relatively quiet today. Whatever happened to all those Islamist attacks on US embassies that so many imagined presaged a rising tide of anti-American mania? … But here’s an essentially unreported fact to give one serious pause: In last month’s US Navy-led multinational exercise in the Persian/Arabian Gulf, less than half the practice mines laid to mimic a potential Iranian bid to close shipping lanes were actually detected. … Enjoy the theater of the debate.
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … A NEW GAME OR AN OLD ONE AFTER THE SECOND OBAMA-ROMNEY DEBATE? and CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC: PASS THE BANANAS.
** NEW POLLS: A TIGHTENING BUT NO ROMNEY SURGE. Polling in key swing states shows a close race between President Barack Obama and conservative Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney going into tonight’s second debate but not a surge for Romney. Who was, after all, in many respects counted out by the very people alternately touting him and worrying about him now not long ago.
In Ohio, which some Republicans are trying to spin as sliding away from Obama, and which no Republican elected president has ever lost, Obama’s lead is 5 points in Public Policy Polling’s sounding. Two weeks earlier, before the first debate, Obama’s lead was 4 points.
In Florida, Romney has seen, in contrast, actual gains, bettering his position by 5 points over three weeks. He trailed 51-46 in late September now it’s Romney 48%, Obama 47%.
Some claim/worry that Romney has put Pennsylvania in play. And while Obama’s lead has dropped 5 points over the past month, he still has a clear 51-44 edge.
And so it goes.
After losing the first presidential debate earlier this month, as he admitted himself, the pressure is on President Barack Obama in the town hall format tonight at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York.
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … A NEW GAME OR AN OLD ONE AFTER THE SECOND OBAMA-ROMNEY DEBATE? and CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC: PASS THE BANANAS.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Virginia, New York, and Washington, DC.
Obama departed Williamsburg, Virginia early this morning on Air Force One after breaking his three-day debate camp there en route to New York City.
He arrived in New York City and then went into seclusion prior to this evening’s debate.
At 6 PM Pacific, Obama participates in the second Presidential Debate against conservative Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. First Lady Michelle Obama also attends.
At 8:05 PM Pacific, Obama departs New York City on Air Force One en route Joint Base Andrews.
At 9 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Joint Base Andrews, where he boards Marine One.
At 9:15 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
Romney also spent most of the past three days prepping for this second presidential debate.
Presidents usually get bested in their first debate. It’s a function of having all the problems of their first terms thrown at them. And it’s a function of presidents getting out of practice with being regularly challenged.
The Obama campaign has halted a slide that began with his poor debate performance in Denver.
But Romney and his free-spending super PAC allies are about to open up a significant gap in advertising spending.
Obama received some help late Monday from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who, traveling in Peru, said that the buck stops with her with regard to responsibility for decisions on diplomatic security.
After foolishly attacking Obama early on for supposedly supporting the people who attacked the US missions in Cairo and Benghazi, Romney has jumped on the bandwagon criticizing the lack of security that helped lead to the assassination of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi on the 11th anniversary of 9/11.
On Wednesday, Obama will travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Athens, Ohio for campaign events. He will return to the White House in the evening.
On Thursday, Obama will travel to Manchester, New Hampshire for a campaign event. Also on Thursday, he will deliver remarks at the 67th Annual Alfred. E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York City. Obama returns to the White House in the evening.
On Friday, Obama will travel to the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland where he will remain overnight.
Congressman Paul Ryan, campaigning this morning in swing state Virginia where conservative Republican presidential nominee Romney has all but closed the gap on Obama, said that Obama can’t run on his record and so has no choice but to attack him and Romney.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Syria, Iraq, AfPak, and the South China Sea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Persian/Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time. The time in Manila, on the South China Sea, is fifteen hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Los Angeles and Northern California.
At noon today at UCLA, Brown appears at a rally for the Prop 30 revenue initiative.
He will speak in Bruin Plaza on the UCLA campus, where he will be joined by student and educational leaders.
Brown got some good news yesterday when heiress Molly Munger, under heavy pressure after launching a $5 million TV ad blitz against Prop 30 as an ostensible push for her own tax measure, Prop 38, announced that she is pulling the ads as of today.
** GEOPOLITICS: OBAMA FACES BIG CHALLENGES DESPITE DEBATE WINNER ROMNEY’S LATEST POLICY WHIFF. … From my October 9th essay.
** JERRY BROWN GETS AN OCTOBER SURPRISE. … From my October 8th feature.
** RECALLING TOTAL RECALL: SCHWARZENEGGER’S COMEBACK PROCEEDS WITH A BIG (NATURALLY) BOOK. … From my October 5th essay.
** BOND AT 50: DR. NO IS A TIME CAPSULE FROM THE EARLY MAD MEN ERA. … From my October 4th essay.
** OBAMA PASSES THROUGH THE MINEFIELD OF U.N. WEEK (BUT SETS UP A POTENTIAL EXPLOSION NEXT YEAR). … From my September 28th essay.
** IS POST-PARTISANSHIP PASSE? SCHWARZENEGGER AND COMPANY (AND BILL CLINTON) SAY NO. … From my September 26th column.
** DETHRONED: MAD MEN‘S DOWN SEASON OPENED THE DOOR FOR A SUPERLATIVE HOMELAND. … From my September 24th column.
** JERRY BROWN: GEARING UP A CAMPAIGN AT LAST? … From my September 22nd feature.
** HOW ROMNEY SHOULD HAVE ATTACKED OBAMA: ANATOMY OF A GEOPOLITICAL CRISIS. … From my September 19th essay.
** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $92 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $58 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $22 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
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| Comments (54) |
[...] Prior to the debate, on my New West Notes blog, I asked whether the Ambien-fed Barack Obama of Denver would show up on Long Island or the amphetamine-fueled Joe Biden of last week? Or something in between? [...]
No, because lightning doesn’t usually strike twice … which is particularly true when we’re talking about two bad debate performances in a row for President Obama.
>Bill Bradley says:
October 17, 2012 at 3:59 pm
Because it went so well in Denver?
> Elizabeth Miller says:
October 16, 2012 at 7:29 pm (Edit)
It shouldn’t!
>Cooper Hawks says:
October 16, 2012 at 4:52 pm
Debate night makes me nervous.
My favourite moment came in the discussion about gas prices rising over the course of the last four years when President Obama explained that the price of gas was so low when he took office because the economy was on the verge of collapse, for God’s sake! And, we were on our way into the Great Recession as a result of the most destructive global financial crisis since the Great Depression.
So yeah, continued the president, Governor Romney could quite conceivably bring down the price of gas by a considerable margin because, with the failed economic policies he is advocating, we could very well go backward and end up in the same bloody mess again!
When the discussion turned to “equal pay for equal work” … well, that was just too easy as the Governor confused the gender pay gap for some whole other issue!
The comparisons between Romney and George W. Bush when Obama explained how Romney was as bad as Bush on economic policy and worse than Bush on social policy was amusing. As was the moment when the president decided to let Romney hang himself on the matter of when did the adminstration recognize the Benghazi attack as an act of terror … “Please proceed, Governor.” Indeed.
>Bill Bradley says:
October 17, 2012 at 4:05 pm
Which were your favorites?
>Elizabeth Miller says:
October 16, 2012 at 7:25 pm (Edit)
I think we’ve seen several long home runs tonight … and none of them off of the bat of Mitt Romney!
afternoon from the Republican Party’s own Dark Knight: Chris Christie. The residual power ofa0Governor Christie’s edeorsnment should provide Mitt with a significant boost heading into the primary voting stage. Only time will