No doubt a victory for Mitt Romney tonight! Much stronger performance than I expected. The race just got significantly tighter!

Next time, Mr. President, just take the wife out for an anniversary dinner and bag the debate!

Romney won. He had a clear and sound message. Obama continued the same old talking points he has for the last four years. Under Obama, we have gotten more people out of work, more people on welfare, and have DOUBLED our country's debt. The facts are the facts. Wake up America! We are on the wrong path. Romney has been successful in business and as governor. Don't vote for Obama, to continue to run our country down. Vote for change. Vote for Romney!

Have we gassed our cars up lately ? Have we checked our wallets ? Gone grocery shopping ? Well I have!! I can't afford the most essential needs as they keep spiraling out of control . Help !!! We need new Ideas! We need MIT Romney.

Right. We need Mitt Romney like we need a hole in the head. I guess you were only looking at the foney grin and how he was more physically aggressive and not listen to what he was actually saying. He only gave you illusive statements like "bring down rates, raise incentives"....how is he going to do that?? Once again, just like the beginning of his campaign, he has given not a single clue as to HOW he is going to change what you've got in your wallet. WHAT new ideas, honey? And if you think either of these men are able to fix an economy that has been destroyed ever since we let the Republicans back into office (Reagan), then you're seriously delusional, but we need to end this "trickle down" theory that is letting the rich hold on to all the money and keep paying the rest of us criminally low wages and turn this nation into a 3rd world country. The only one who cares ANYTHING about that 47% Romney is talking about (YOU!), then you'd be wiser to vote for Obama. How insulting that anyone would tell us they will trickle down pennies to us....we should get our fair share, not sit at the table like a bunch of begging dogs waiting for crumbs to "trickle down" to us. Have some pride! We ARE the companies we work for and should be able to share in the profits WE helped create.

TO me obama has been a complete dissapointment, he promised change and things have not changed they stayed the same or have gotten worst. High unimployment, high gas prices, very high food prices, low paying jobs, everything still made in china, the richer get richer, do you want me to go on because it will get worst. As you say mr. president obama; we need change and you are one of the changes we need to make, we need a new president.

The government should add another cabinet post? "secretary of television" Now thats important these days?

Mr. Romney says he will not raise taxes but cut credits and deductions.
Well guess what it's the same thing, maybe even a bit worse.
He keeps talking about he will make things better, he probably means for the likes of him
Maybe that's why he he refuses to tell us how.

Dont think anyone 'won' the debate...but although i dont agree with mitt on many of his policies, he did have a strong performance last night (in terms of presence, handling responses, tone, etc.). It did seem very rehearsed and he kept adding generic talking points at the end of each of his segments while talking to the crowd...made him look good but was funny to me. Very well done at the end of the day in my opinion. Although i think he did well, he did have some gafs, like calling out PBS cutting while the moderater is from PBS haha, and the strong stance that there is no tax cuts for sending jobs overseas...haha that was bold statement (he is wrong by the way). I think Mitt had a good jab at obama for the green energy spending, obama never responded to it...interested on looking that up more.

Look forward to the next debates

Mitt...hands down. As with any job, performance is reviewed and changes are made. The greatness of our society is that WE control our leaders by our votes. The disgrace I see is that people humanize their support of a candidate when they look for an excuse for sub standard performance. When someone is barley achieving expectations we don't say..."not bad because he's so charming and speaks like knows what he's talking about..." we say ..."Thank you for your time but we need to head in another direction..." It's time to say thank you and gracefully head in another direction.

Mitt Romney won the debate! He is a polished gentleman and a great speaker. Obama cannot even look anyone in the eye. He stuttered over everything he tried to say.....More Lies!!! He has only made this country worse than ever. Him and his OBAMA CARE!! It is ridiculous. Why does he have to change that????? Get people jobs!!! How can anyone see how prices on everything have gone up, and everyone is out of work, and still vote for Obama??????????

The question was: "Who won the debate?" Mitt Romney may have won the debate (and that is my opinion) however, he was not honest about where he stands on the issues. There was one statement that he was telling the truth about...he said that he wasn't worried about Corporations or the wealthiest Americans because they were doing just fine...and I guess they are, LOL.
He was going after the votes of the people who routinely have not been following all of his speeches at his gatherings and all of the far right wing and tea party people who have been "a courtin' him". Romney was aggressive and in the middle...maybe even drifting (dare I say) to the left somewhat. That's why he won the debate. He also had no problem going into attack mode toward the President. While President Obama did not return any attacks on Mr. Romney. So, YES...Mitt Romney won this debate. The next debate is a Town Hall Meeting and it's in Hempstead, Long Island. That's a great place for some beefy questions to come from and I doubt that either of the candidates will get away with any "flip flopping" due to the diversity of the demographics there. I also doubt that Romney will get away with saying that he wasn't going to touch Social Security and that little detail about his wanting to privatise Social Security conveniently was omitted last night. Let's see what the 47% have to say to Mr. Romney. He'd better have a really good coach for this one. Last night he was coached...and extremely well!

Not even close.
Romney.

Mitt Romney won hands down. Young voters need to understand that we can't afford to borrow money from China so Big Bird can collect a federal pension. It is only FAIR, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse don't get tax payer subsidies. The executives who run PBS (1%ers) may have to reduce their salaries by 20% like the rest of us. Sesame Street is strong enough to survive in the private sector. Look at Sesame Place.

Way to go Mitt! That's how an American debates, kicking the butt of an unprepared, uppity, unqualified mess

I guess if we lower taxes and make the taxcode easier so the taxpayers could file their own returns it would upset the accountants and IRS agents because they would have less work. There should be lots of jobs for them helping private companies grow their business. Wouldn't that be more rewarding for our accounting friends.

It probably seemed more like a draw to the casual undecided voter. Only rabid political junkies would have found it interesting enough to try to analyze "Who Won."

I think Mitt looked better and had a more polished performance for sure. Substance-wise I don't think so. His "plan" reminded me of a quote from Atlas Shrugged. It promises too much and the math doesn't seem to make any sense:

"The John Galt Plan will reconcile all conflicts. It will protect the property of the rich and give a greater share to the poor. It will cut down the burden of your taxes and provide you with more government benefits. It will lower prices and raise wages. It will give more freedom to the individual and strengthen the bonds of collective obligations. It will combine the efficiency of free enterprise with the generosity of a planned economy."

Ouch! Longtime Resident won that round against Dianna S. Not even a reply ha ha

It should not matter who won or lost the debate. The American people should be the winners so that they can better know the candidate for whom they wish to vote. Enough already with Fox and MSNBC trying to determine a winner. TV reports will not help me make up my mind in November, my decision based on the true facts will.

Romney and Obama agree that the Hatboro website stinks.

Things could have been improved these last 4 years if the republicans hadn't shot down all the changes Obama tried to make to better our country. They did so to make him look like he wasn't doing a good job. Obama has worked hard to get this country straightened out, he tried to stop outsourcing, tried to end the war, but those rightwingers in congress shot down all his hard work. Romney is out to help the RICH, not the working middle class.

I agree with you, Sandy. Also, I would like to throw out there that during Obama's first campaign in 2009 he did say that the economy isn't going to change in just 4 years or even 8 years but for many more seats in the presidential chair or had everyone forgotten that? And for those who say that the only people who benefited from his term in office are the people on public assistants think about those same exact people when you have Mitt Romney in office when he allows financial passes for the rich and won't give two thoughts of the people who live on or under the poverty line.

Good point, Dianna S. And Matt Grote. I work for my county in a courtroom everyday handling criminal cases. We are doing our best to manage the huge crime rates without a raise in the last 6 yrs. Obama has only been in office for 4, mind you. Bush did a number on this economy. And for the first time in 6 yrs, we are getting a holiday bonus in December. I dont know how people can say dropping the unemployment rate below 8% , saving our entire auto industry, and moving to create a universal health care plan so the middle class don't have to choose between health for dad or a college education for their kid (seen it happen) ...if that is doing nothing for the middle class I don't know what is. I really think anyone voting Republican after what Reaganomics and the Bushes did to this economy is flat out either severely ignorant or severely mentally disturbed. Keep the Republicans out of office!

Yep...I can't argue that. Some people will vote for him because of his race. But it won't be because they agree more with Mitt Romney's political views and they won't vote for Romney because he is white. It will be because they would agree with the President's policy anyway and because he is brown they will make a point to get out and vote. That's what the difference is. When someone would vote for a Democrat if they were light skinned but because they are dark skinned they won't vote for them, then that is wrong. But because this is the GREAT Country that it is, WE are all entitled to the right to vote for whomever we choose for whatever the reason. And to answer your question as to why??? I was responding to Kimberly Patterson's post..."I really think anyone voting Republican after what Reaganomics and the Bushes did to this economy is flat out either severely ignorant or severely mentally disturbed." To which I added my remark about "or they have a real problem with brown people in high places."
That's all...but I am aware of how sensitive some people are about race. Not all are. Take me, for instance...I'm more sensitive about fat comments than race. So, there ya go. If you said you wouldn't vote for that fat guy that runs N.J....now that might piss me off. Because that's not a good reason for not voting for him. If you didn't vote for him because you think he's a dumb arse than I'd agree with you.

So, Longtime Resident...how do you feel about voting for fat people? Would you vote for a fat Governor?
BTW, I am not the person who said "that if anyone votes for Romney they are they are either severely ignorant or severely mentally disturbed"
I just added something to the mix so you don't have to call me names...that just hurts my feelings that you don't like me. most people think I'm an awesome person! Not to mention a snappy dresser. You need to chill, Longtime! You're really making this personal. We can get along, I just won't be voting for Romney and you won't be voting for Obama. I didn't say you were a racist. Why are you getting all defensive about it? And, No, I guess you don't understand what I said. Because what I said was that the policies that Democrats primary represent are those of that particular demographic that a black voter would be a part of...and therefore they would be more likely to vote for Obama anyway and not Mitt Romney, who represents a traditionally higher income bracket than most black voters. White voters, on the other hand, could be of higher, middle or lower income brackets and if they voted for Romney dispite the fact that he didn't represent their particular needs or views better than Obama, well then WHY would they vote for him at all (Romney that is)? That is what Kimberly Patterson was saying. No, it has nothing to do with race, that's just the elephant in the room. It SHOULD be left out of the equation, but rarely is.

What Kimberly Patterson was saying is exactly what she said. It makes ZERO sense to vote for someone who has NO plan and only talks about "freedom" and "liberty" and being "about jobs" with NO PLAN. And when he DID have a semi agenda (that made no sense either) he rescinded it in the debate like he never said any of what he said before! And all his supporters called that a win. Haha. Its seriously scary. So when I said you have to be mentally disturbed to be voting for someone who is going to "NOT change education, NOT increase taxes on the wealthy, NOT grant health care for everyone" and not be clear on what he IS going to do, yeah something is not right with that voter in their upstairs department. Racism falls under the mentally disturbed category. There is SOME subversive, underlying motive to vote for Romney, who makes absolutely no sense because it sure isn't based on his plans for our future.

Dianna, Longtime and Kimberly: Haven't you said about all there is to say on this subject by now? Between the three of you there have been 21 posts in less than a week! Maybe you could just agree to disagree and let it go at that. (My inbox would appreciate it.)

Yes, William...I agree with you. In fact I actually said that same thing 4 posts ago when I said : "You need to chill, Longtime! You're really making this personal. We can get along, I just won't be voting for Romney and you won't be voting for Obama."
And also when I didn't respond to the first comment and Beacon Hill said that I didn't reply to Longtime. And Kimberly has every right to clarify her statements since both Longtime and I brought her comments into our discussion. Also, don't you have the option here to "stop following" a particular thread? Not that I want you to stop following me, but you have that option. Anyway, I did say that I believe that Romney won the debate. And I also made it clear what side of the line I was standing on...the left. So I guess you can just put me into that category that you described as,"Only rabid political junkies would have found it interesting enough to try to analyze "Who Won." "
Which is fine with me. But I don't like being bullied. So while I usually avoid getting into cat fights like it would have been had I replied to Longterm's original reply to me (incorrectly stating that I keep referring to the 47% when I mentioned it once or like the one about the President "buying votes"), I did reply to Beacon to tell him/her that I don't usually reply to lame comments but that I was replying to his to tell him why I didn't reply to Longtime's. Other than that, all I did was reply to some other contributions on this board.

William F Brenner,

It is very easy to get caught up in a conversation / dialogue / debate over a topic especially when people address you and your comments directly. Isn't that part of the purpose of this forum, isn't that considered freedom of speech, isn't that one thing that makes America great, that people can discuss things and share their point of view? It is just a shame that people feel bullied if others don't agree with or share their opinions. I agree that at some point all good things should come to an end....and this is probably that point for this topic at least for now but you know with more debates there will be more discussions.