memeorandum: It's Over — I've been watching presidential debates for quite … (John Hinderaker/Power Line)

8:55 AM ET, October 4, 2012

Top Items:

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Live-Blogging The First Presidential Debate 2012 — 10.31 pm. Look: you know how much I love the guy, and you know how much of a high information viewer I am, and I can see the logic of some of Obama's meandering, weak, professorial arguments. But this was a disaster for the president …

Discussion: Democracy in America, Taegan Goddard's …, Via Meadia, The Daily Beast, Mr. Media Training, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The New Republic, The Fix, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Sabato's Crystal Ball, Mother Jones, Infidel753, Joe. My. God., Angry Black Lady Chronicles and Balloon Juice

BuzzFeed:

How Mitt Romney Won The First Debate — By standing on the stage with the president as an equal. — Image by Rick Wilking / Reuters — Mitt Romney, trailing in the polls, needed to prove tonight that he could stand on stage with President Barack Obama as an equal and a plausible president of the United States.

CNN:

CNN Poll: Most watchers say Romney debate winner — Denver, Colorado (CNN) - Two-thirds of people who watched the first presidential debate think that Republican nominee Mitt Romney won the showdown, according to a nationwide poll conducted Wednesday night.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Examiner, Washington Post, National Review, Questions and Observations, Maggie's Farm, The Times of Israel, Conservatives4Palin, American Prospect, Scared Monkeys, Hit & Run, The Moderate Voice and Taylor Marsh

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

It's Over — I've been watching presidential debates for quite a few years, but I have never seen one like this. It wasn't a TKO, it was a knockout. Mitt Romney was in control from the beginning. He was the alpha male, while Barack Obama was weak, hesitant, stuttering, often apologetic.

Discussion: CNN, American Spectator, The Lonely Conservative, Daily Kos, Los Angeles Times, UTSanDiego.com, RedState, TBogg and Whiskey Fire

Jackie Koszczuk / NationalJournal.com:

Liberals Livid With Obama's Debate Performance — How bad was it for Obama Wednesday night? Even some of his biggest fans were livid that he let Mitt Romney walk away with a win, and they were not suffering in silence. — Within an hour of the debate ending, liberals and longtime Democratic operatives …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Jonah Goldberg / National Review:

There Went the Boom — I've been getting more and more cautiously optimistic about Romney in the last few days and, going in, I had a pretty good feeling about tonight's debate. But I had no expectation that Romney would simply control the night the way he did.

Discussion: American Power

RealClearPolitics Video Log:

Chris Matthews Freaks Out At Obama: “What Was He Doing?” — “Tonight wasn't an MSNBC debate tonight, was it?” Chris Matthews said after the first Obama-Romney presidential debate concluded on Wednesday night. — “I don't know what he was doing out there. He had his head down, he was enduring the debate rather than fighting it.

Discussion: National Review, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Lonely Conservative, Roger L. Simon, Connecting.the.Dots and New York Times

BuzzFeed:

Chris Matthews Unloads On Obama: “Where Was Obama Tonight...What Was He Doing?” — Chris Matthews Unloads On Obama's Debate Performance — “Where was Obama tonight? What was he doing?” — Andrew Kaczynski — a half hour ago — 10 responses

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed, Scared Monkeys, The Moderate Voice and The PJ Tatler

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Romney wins; Update: CBS insta-poll shows decisive Romney victory; Update: Romney crushes Obama in CNN insta-poll — I said in the open thread that the media would strain to spin this as an Obama victory, but I assumed that he'd give them something, however small, to work with. He gave them nothing.

Discussion: The Spectacle Blog, Scared Monkeys, Bookworm Room and Say Anything

Ellen Carmichael / Twitchy:

Undecided voters in focus group swing sharply toward Romney; Frank Luntz: 'I've never seen anything like this'; CBS post-debate poll shows big win for Romney … Tonight, pollster Frank Luntz assembled a focus group consisting of undecided Colorado voters. By the end of tonight's debate …

Discussion: JOSHUAPUNDIT and Michelle Malkin

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Obama's Stephanie Cutter knocks Lehrer — DENVER, Colo. — Obama spokesperson Stephanie Cutter took a swipe at moderator Jim Lehrer's largely passive debate performance tonight, saying the PBS anchor had allowed Mitt Romney to act as the moderator. — “I sometimes wondered if we even needed …

Discussion: Mediaite, Betsy's Page and American Power

Mike Flynn / BREITBART.COM:

POLITICO: ROMNEY UP 4 IN ‘TOSS UP’ STATES — This week, Politico released its latest Battleground poll of the presidential race. Despite coming from the left-wing news site, the poll is one of my favorites. Its put together by respected pollsters from both parties, makes available …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Ricochet Conversations Feed and The PJ Tatler

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters.org blogs:

Dem Debate Meltdown: Stumbling Obama Surrogate Speaks Of ‘President Romney’ — How resounding was Mitt Romney's rout of Barack Obama tonight? In the post-debate spin room, a hopelessly muddled Martin O'Malley, Dem guv from Maryland and supposedly an Obama surrogate, wound up referring to “President Romney”!

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly: Spin Room — I gather from brief glances at Twitter …

Ron Fournier / NationalJournal.com:
Incumbent Debate Curse: Barack Obama Falls to Mitt Romney

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Ricochet Conversations Feed and NewsBusters.org blogs

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Team Obama struggles as Romney wins big

Discussion: The Other McCain and Taegan Goddard's …

CBS News:
Poll: Uncommitted voters say Romney wins debate

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools and News Desk

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Polls: Romney dominated debate

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, No More Mister Nice Blog, Politico and The Fix

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Romney addresses Obama, Obama addresses Lehrer at first debate

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and Reuters

Bobby Cervantes / Politico:
A Mitt Romney rebound?

Discussion: CNN, The Fix, ABCNEWS, Balloon Juice, CBS News, Riehl World News, ABCNEWS, Daily Kos, Beach Peanuts and Mother Jones

Richard Adams / Guardian:
First US presidential debate: Obama and Romney - as it happened

Discussion: Business Insider, Balloon Juice and The Mahablog

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Obama fails to mention Bain, ‘47 percent’

Discussion: CNN, Ballot Box, Politico, Weekly Standard and The Hill

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Aggressive Romney blasts Obama for his ‘trickle down government’

Discussion: ABCNEWS and Politico

Russell Goldman / ABCNEWS:
Obama and Romney Clash in First Debate

Discussion: CNN, Politico and Riehl World News

Robert Kuttner / American Prospect:
First Round to Romney — Republican presidential candidate …

Discussion: New York Magazine and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:

Romney Backs Away From Own Tax Plan — At the first presidential debate in Colorado Wednesday night, former Gov. Mitt Romney disputed a central criticism of his tax reform plan — and appeared to disavow one of its central features. — Responding to President Obama's description of Romney's proposal …

Discussion: The New Republic

Jim Lehrer / ABCNEWS:
Presidential Debate Transcript

Discussion: Mediaite, IQ 106.9, The Moderate Voice, Sky Dancing and Politico

Russell Goldman / ABCNEWS:
Romney Hits Obama on ‘Trickle-Down’ Approach

Discussion: Reuters and Politico

Sharyl Attkisson / CBS News:

House panel: State Dept. confirmed Libya threats — A House committee says a State Department officer told panel members there were 13 threats made against the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya during the six months before the Sept. 11 attack on the facility.

Discussion: Washington Post and The Heritage Foundation

Michael Birnbaum / Washington Post:
Sensitive documents left behind at American mission in Libya

Discussion: Hot Air, Pirate's Cove, emptywheel, Washington Examiner, Wired, Telegraph, Weasel Zippers, NewsBusters.org, Villainous Company, The Lonely Conservative, Washington Free Beacon, Truthdig, National Review, The Daily Caller and NewsBusters.org blogs

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

Republican Congressman Campaigns At North Dakota Construction Site He Voted To Defund — Rep. Rick Berg (R-ND), locked in a close Senate race against former North Dakota Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp (D), visited the 55th Street bypass bridge construction site in Minot on Tuesday, touting the stop on his campaign's Twitter feed:

Discussion: Say Anything

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Drudge — For years, I was a big reader of Drudge. Was never a fan of Drudge, though I recognized his entrepreneurial acumen. In fact, I despised most everything that he stood for, from rancid politics to integrity free journalism, the endless lying. But I visited the site ALL THE TIME.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and The Moderate Voice

CNN:

KitchenAid apologizes for tweet insulting Obama — (CNN) - The home appliance brand KitchenAid apologized Wednesday evening for a political tweet sent out from its official account during the presidential debate. — The tweet has been removed but at least a dozen retweets of the post showed it read …

Discussion: Politico and Gawker

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:

Top Romney Adviser: States Will Have To Cover People With Pre-Existing Conditions Under President Romney — After the first presidential debate at the University of Denver in Colorado on Wednesday night, one of Mitt Romney's top advisers acknowledged that, as a result Romney's plan to repeal Obamacare …

Discussion: Paul Krugman, AMERICAblog, The Huffington Post, Blue Mass Group and The Moderate Voice