memeorandum: The First Debate Was Obama's Best Chance (Jonathan Chait/New York Magazine)

4:55 PM ET, October 8, 2012

Top Items:

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Romney Narrows Vote Gap After Historic Debate Win — By record-high margin, debate watchers say Romney did better — PRINCETON, NJ — Registered voters' preferences for president are evenly split in the first three days of Gallup tracking since last Wednesday's presidential debate.

New York Times:

With Biden Up Next to Debate, Obama's Aides Plot Comeback — WASHINGTON — President Obama's campaign is working feverishly to restore its momentum after a lackluster debate performance last week, an effort that began with a conference call 10 minutes before the debate even ended and led …

James Hohmann / Politico:

Battleground Tracking Poll: Dems less enthusiastic — ORLANDO, Fla. — President Barack Obama has a worsening enthusiasm problem. — A new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Tracking Poll of likely voters shows ahead of Mitt Romney 49 percent to 48 percent nationally …

Discussion: The Other McCain, Hot Air, Examiner, Vodkapundit, The Strata-Sphere, Taylor Marsh, Scared Monkeys, ABCNEWS and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Romney's Strong Debate Performance Erases Obama's Lead — GOP Challenger Viewed as Candidate with New Ideas — OVERVIEW — Mitt Romney no longer trails Barack Obama in the Pew Research Center's presidential election polling. By about three-to-one, voters say Romney did a better job …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Taegan Goddard's …, LifeNews.com, Outside the Beltway, The PJ Tatler and Business Insider

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The First Debate Was Obama's Best Chance — In the most immediate way, the current wave of Democratic panic is probably overblown. If you want to understand why Mitt Romney's current polling bounce is probably not a fundamental reshaping of the race, read Nate Silver and Nate Cohn, but I'll summarize it for you.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, The Week, American Prospect, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Examiner, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller and National Review

John Nolte / BREITBART.COM:
BATTLEGROUND POLL: ROMNEY UP 16 WITH INDEPENDENTS, UP 13 IN ENTHUSIASM

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Fix, Weasel Zippers, PolicyMic, Rush Limbaugh, GOP 12, The Right Scoop, GayPatriot, Jammie Wearing Fools and National Review

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:
A Limited and Self-Serving Defense of Political Punditry

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Weekly Standard

Meghashyam Mali / Ballot Box:
Gallup: Romney ties Obama after scoring historic debate win

Discussion: Election 2012, Politico and Jammie Wearing Fools

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Experts pan Romney foreign policy speech — Mitt Romney's foreign policy speech Monday was filled with tough talk and slams of President Barack Obama's leadership — but little of the clarity Romney has vowed to bring to the Oval Office. — Analysts reviewing what the Republican nominee …

Discussion: The Maddow Blog

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Team Obama to Romney: ‘Bring it on’ — President Obama's campaign aggressively hit back against Mitt Romney's foreign policy speech on Monday, challenging the GOP nominee to “bring it on.” — “Mitt Romney once again tried to engage the president on foreign policy, and we have a simple message for him …

Discussion: Politico, CNN and Weasel Zippers

David E. Sanger / New York Times:

Romney Remains Vague on Foreign Policy Details — WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney is intensifying his efforts to draw a sharp contrast with President Obama on national security in the presidential campaign's closing stages, portraying Mr. Obama as having mishandled the tumult in the Arab world …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, Guardian, Washington Post, The Week, PolicyMic, Taegan Goddard's …, First Read, Taylor Marsh, PoliticusUSA, The Maddow Blog, The Mahablog, The Caucus, Daily Kos, The Hinterland Gazette, National Review, Plunderbund and Towleroad News #gay

Washington Wire:
Text of Romney Speech on Foreign Policy at VMI

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Guardian, National Review and Wall Street Journal

Brett LoGiurato / Business Insider:
Mitt Romney Just Hammered Obama On Libya In A Big, Wide-Ranging Foreign Policy Speech

Discussion: Jihad Watch

ABCNEWS:
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and FP Passport

Daniel W. Drezner:
Meet the new Romney foreign policy speech... same as the old Romney foreign policy speech?

Discussion: First Read, FP Passport, New York Times, Mother Jones, Washington Examiner, The Daily Dish and Politico

Spencer Ackerman / Wired:
With Foreign Policy Speech, Romney Runs for Obama's Second Term

Discussion: American Prospect, Outside the Beltway, The Week and The Agonist

Washington Post:
Mitt Romney's speech on foreign policy at the Virginia Military Institute: Prepared remarks

Discussion: Wonkette, The Fix, Booman Tribune, Riehl World News and Election 2012

James Hohmann / Politico:
Mitt Romney: Obama has made U.S. less safe

Discussion: Hot Air, CNN, Fox News Insider, Right Wing News and emptywheel

Trip Gabriel / The Caucus: Romney Says White House Botched Response to Benghazi Attack

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

Corruption: Exposing Barack Obama's Illegal Foreign Campaign Money Loophole — A new report obtained by Townhall from the non-partisan Government Accountability Institute [GAI] shows the Obama campaign has potentially violated federal election law by failing to prevent the use of fraudulent …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Moderate Voice, Weasel Zippers, Patterico's Pontifications, Michelle Malkin, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Lonely Conservative and The Hinterland Gazette

Wynton Hall / BREITBART.COM:

BOMBSHELL: OBAMA.COM OWNED BY BUNDLER IN SHANGHAI WITH BUSINESS TIES TO CHINESE GOVERNMENT — In an explosive report set to send shockwaves through official Washington, the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) released a 108-page GAI investigation into the threat of foreign …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Instapundit, The Right Scoop, Wizbang, neo-neocon and Vodkapundit

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Obama bundler tied to Chinese government?

Discussion: Power Line, The Hill, White House Dossier, National Review, Patterico's Pontifications and Election Law Blog

Tony Lee / BREITBART.COM:
REPORT: OBAMA.COM VULNERABLE TO ILLEGAL FOREIGN CAMPAIGN DONATIONS

Discussion: National Review, The PJ Tatler and Jammie Wearing Fools

Buzz Bissinger / The Daily Beast:

Why I'm Voting for Mitt Romney — After the president's debate performance in Denver, this lifelong Democrat has made a difficult decision: he's given up on Barack Obama. Even if his own wife doesn't approve. — When I told my wife Lisa that I was writing a column supporting Mitt Romney for president …

Discussion: Slate, The Atlantic Wire, Washington Monthly, Riehl World News, Hot Air, AMERICAblog, p m carpenter's commentary, Balloon Juice, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Magazine, neo-neocon, Pressing Issues and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:
Obama And Romney Reverse Roles

Discussion: Riehl World News and New York Magazine

Laura Washington / Chicago Sun Times:

Reporter Lara Logan brings ominous news from Middle East — CBS correspondent Lara Logan covers the reaction in Cairo's Tahrir Square the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down in February 2011. CBS News photo — This was no ordinary rubber chicken affair.

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, NewsBusters.org blogs, The Lonely Conservative, National Review, The PJ Tatler, Riehl World News and The Hinterland Gazette

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

Security Team Commander Says Ambassador Stevens Wanted His Team to Stay in Libya Past August — U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens wanted a Security Support Team, made up of 16 special operations soldiers, to stay with him in Libya after their deployment was scheduled to end in August …

Discussion: CBS News, The Hill, BBC, Sister Toldjah, The PJ Tatler, Atlas Shrugs and Washington Examiner

Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:
Exclusive: Libya Cable Detailed Threats

Discussion: Daily Mail, Hot Air, emptywheel, The Daily Caller, Betsy's Page, Washington Free Beacon and The Gateway Pundit

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:

Princeton Economist: Obama Campaign Is Misrepresenting My Study on Romney's Tax Plan — Last night, the Obama campaign blasted out another email claiming that Mitt Romney's tax plan would either require raising taxes on the middle class or blowing a hole in the deficit.

Discussion: Power Line and The Lonely Conservative

Contactmusic.com:

Madonna backs down from wearing Muslim bridal dress — Madonna has decided against wearing a Muslim bridal dress, a combination of a traditional Iraqi bridal veil and a US soldier's uniform, in her new music video after being convinced by her advisers to give the outfit a miss for her own safety.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit

Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post:

New York Times Staffers To Walk Out Over Contract Negotiations … REACT: — FOLLOW: — The New York Times, New York Times Protest, New York Times Walk Out, New York Times Walk Out Contract, New York Times Walk Out Employes, New York Times Walkout, New York Times Walkout Contract, New York Times Walkout Employees, Media News

Discussion: Mediaite, The Raw Story, Working In These Times and Riehl World News, more at Mediagazer »

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

MUST WATCH: Mr. Rogers' Powerful Defense Of Federal Funding For PBS — During last week's debate Mitt Romney pledged to cut all funding for PBS, including Big Bird. Although Romney pitched the cuts as a deficit reduction measure, all funding for PBS accounts for less than 1/100 of 1% of the budget.