After weeks of anticipatory news coverage, breathless spin and counter-spin from both sides aiming to lower expectations for their own guy, and occasional off-cue moments from surrogates, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will take the stage in Denver today for the first of three debates. 
 
 With polls showing Obama with a slight lead nationally, and a bigger lead in swing states, Romney needs to deliver tonight and score something of a win if he wants to change the race’s arc. That’s not to say it will be the GOP nominee’s only chance to shine, but it will be an important one. For Romney, tonight is the chance to let viewers see him differently. 
 
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 reset Tonight's debate: What not to do 
 
 (See also: Complete coverage of the Colorado presidential debate) 
 
 Below, POLITICO’s five things to watch for: 
 
 1. Can Romney win the first half-hour? 
 
 There was the strong, aggressive Romney that chewed up and spat out Newt Gingrich at the moments he most needed a game-changer in the Republican primaries. 
 
 There was the churlish Romney who bet Rick Perry $10,000. And there was also the rules-abiding Romney, who called for help from moderator Anderson Cooper when Perry ate up too much time in one of the face-offs. 
 
 Romney is getting conflicting advice on which debate personality should show up. He has twice debated a Democrat one on one — Ted Kennedy in 1994, where the results were not great, and with Shannon O’Brien, where a good debate showing helped him become Massachusetts governor. 
 
 Romney’s got a difficult task, which is to be aggressive without attacking the president, who has high personal approval ratings too fiercely. He has to seem tough but also presidential, assertive but not snide. He has to accuse Obama of not being honest with voters, without sounding shrill. 
 
 Winning over voters in a popularity contest is never going to be easy for the GOP nominee, but if he can demonstrate the ability to be president — to convince voters it’s a role he can play, and seem serious and substantive — he will go a ways toward his goal of changing the race’s current arc. 
 
 Tonight will go the furthest toward showing whether Romney recognizes the race is in its final stages, and that either political victory or political death is nigh. 
 
 Like Obama, Romney can seem smug and prickly when challenged. He needs to go in relaxed, without memorizing his briefing book to the point of paralysis. Romney will try to trip up the president, but he needs to be as nimble as possible. Also like Obama, Romney is a good but not expert debater. He can make a mistake in a weak or unpredictable moment. And the fact that he started laying out a few new policy statements 48 hours before the debate suggests he knows tough questions are coming. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Mitt, be nimble) 
 
 The first half hour of a presidential debate tends to be when the tone is set. Romney needs to score points, quick and early. The good news for Romney is that reporters love a comeback story, which is only bolstering his chances of decent coverage the next day. 
 
 2. How hard will Obama attack? 
 
 The president does not tend to fare as well going negative. But he has to attack. 
 
 Fact one: Obama’s surge against Romney was powered by a relentless, pounding summertime assault — led by surrogates and staff for the most part — on his challenger’s fitness to lead and capacity to comprehend the struggles of regular working people. 
 
 Fact Two: Obama’s surge was also fueled by a huge lead over Romney on personal approval — and that edge could disappear if he appears too negative tonight. 
 
 Reconciling those two realities — how to seem civil while trashing Romney to his face — is probably the biggest challenge facing the incumbent Wednesday. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: 10 great debate moments) 
 
 Obama's genius in 2008 was his ability to slam his opponents and their top surrogates through the use of code words, casting John McCain and Bill Clinton as icons of a bygone era, who needed to be dispatched into dignified retirement. But this is a different election — and incumbents, especially ones with as little margin for error as Obama — can’t afford to be subtle. ||||| Out on a limb, where the breeze is best: 
 
 The impact of the first debate is going to be bigger than we know. It's going to affect thinking more than we know, and it's going to start showing up in the polls, including in the battlegrounds, more dramatically than we guess. 
 
 It wasn't just Mitt Romney's strong performance. It was President Obama's amazingly weak one. He's never been punctured before. But by debate's end Wednesday night, if you opened the window this is what you could hear: Ssssssss. The soft hiss of air departing from a balloon. 
 
 And—amazingly again—he did it to himself. He didn't fight, he didn't show, he wasn't awake and hungry. He just said the same-old-same-old and let it go. He couldn't even meet Mr. Romney's gaze, never mind his arguments. 
 
 Flashback Columnist Peggy Noonan on why the presidential debates could offer Mitt Romney the chance to surprise voters. Also, is President Obama getting too much blame for the poor economy? Photo: Associated Press 
 
 Is all this dispositive? Has it changed everything? No. 
 
 Balloons can get patched. Opportunities can be squandered. Luck can turn. 
 
 But this whole race is on the move again, it's in play again, and it's going to get fun. 
 
 But it's going to get hot, too. And probably dirty. 
 
 *** 
 
 America got its first, sustained look at the good and competent Mr. Romney. And it really was a first. He wasted his convention but showed up for his debate, and over 70 million people were watching. Many of them were taking his measure for the first time. What did they see? He was confident, gracious, in command of the facts. He looked like a president, acted like one. He was easily the incumbent's equal and maybe more than that, so he became for the first time a real alternative to the incumbent, a living one, not just a name on a ballot. 
 
 He has been painted as Richie Rich, a too-tightly-wound reject from the Republican Animatronic Presidential Candidate Factory. But again, that's not who he was. He was a normal, smart adult, and he knew things both about America and about public policy. He's supposed to be extreme, but he was not in the least extreme. 
 
 He spent his time talking not just to Republicans or conservatives but to the American people, a huge and varied lot. He reminded many of them of something they'd perhaps forgotten along the way: We don't like the Obama economy! We don't like ObamaCare! We don't like not having jobs! Nothing personal, but this didn't work! 
 
 Enlarge Image Close AFP/Getty Images The opponents Wednesday night in Denver. 
 
 Forced by time constraints to be clear and concise in his statements, he was both. Here we must stop and note: The way Mr. Romney spoke in the debate was the real Romney. The faux-flowery "prairie fire of debt" one we hear on the stump is the not-real Romney. He flowers himself up on the stump because he thinks it makes him sound better. It doesn't. The real Romney is the one who can communicate. He's straight and direct and not fancy, forgivably jargony, but worried about America and sincere. That's the Romney who showed up for the debate. Stay that guy! 
 
 *** 
 
 All the books being written about the 2012 race will tell us the background and circumstances of Mr. Obama's surprising and deeply unimpressive performance. For now what can be said is this is how journalists described it in real time: passive, listless, effete, detached, flaccid, dull-brained, disengaged, professorial. 
 
 The last is unjust. Professors are often interesting. When Mr. Romney gave him the sweet-faced "You're a cute little shrimp" look, and he gave it to him all night, Mr. Obama couldn't even look at him. When Mr. Obama stared down and nodded at his notes it looked, as someone observed in an email, like his impersonation of a bored wife. Everything he said—everything—was something you'd heard too many times. Mr. Romney gave the president some openings. The president didn't take them. Why? It crossed my mind he was playing possum. But possums wake up at some point. 
 
 Mr. Obama's likability numbers are about to go down. It's going to be a reverse Sally Field: You don't like me, you really don't like me. 
 
 Related Video American Spectator senior editor John Fund on how the Obama campaign is responding to last night's debate and what to expect from the President in the next one. Photo: Getty Images 
 
 Jim Lehrer has been criticized as an inadequate moderator. He was old-school and a pro. He didn't think it was about him. How quaint. He asked questions, allowed a certain amount of leeway to both candidates, which allowed each to reveal himself, and kept things moving. Most of the criticism seems to have come from those who hoped Mr. Obama would emerge triumphant. Mr. Lehrer should not take it personally. Every shot at him was actually a warning shot aimed at the next moderator, Martha Raddatz. She's being told certain outcomes are desirable. 
 
 *** 
 
 The next Obama-Romney debate will be different. The same Obama will not show up. He's been embarrassed. He'll bring his LeBron. He'll be tough, competitive, and he'll go at Mr. Romney professionally and personally: "We know you love cars, you've even got an elevator for them!" This is where Sen. Rob Portman, in future debate prep, has to go. He has to play a newly energized and focused Chicago pol. But then he knows that. 
 
 Advice to the Romney campaign: 
 
 1. There's no way to know if the debate changed everything, but for the next few weeks pretend it has. Underscore the gain in stature your candidate now enjoys. Makes things new, dress it up. 
 
 Peggy Noonan's Blog Daily declarations from the Wall Street Journal columnist. 
 
 2. Everyone at podiums. Stop with the rambling man with the cordless mic on the empty stage. Forget the bales of hay and the tired local GOP activists in the background. Keep the candidate looking like a president. Weeks ago you threw together a stage with a podium, flags and deep blue curtains. It was for Mr. Romney's Libya statement, which flopped. But the setting was good. Get it back. 
 
 3. Everyone in suits and ties. Enough with the high-thread-count, open-collar shirts with the sleeves rolled up. The presidency is not a TED conference. Especially for Paul Ryan. You know what we like to see in a 42-year-old man who wants to change a 45-year-old program? Grown-up clothes. 
 
 4. Maintain the rhetorical tone and tenor of the debate—sharp but respectful—Debate Romney, not Prairie Fire Romney. 
 
 Related Video New York Post editorial writer Robert George on how much mileage Mitt Romney will get out of last night's debate. Photo: Getty Images 
 
 5. Watch out for Big Bird. Putting the merits and realities of overall PBS funding aside, Mr. Romney here gave a small gift to the incumbent. Democrats will merrily exploit it. Big Birds will start showing up outside Romney rallies, holding up signs saying "Don't Kill Me!" Think this through. 
 
 6. As things tighten up, they will probably get dirty. It is a matter of conviction in both parties that the other side is more ruthless and brutal in its use of underhanded tactics. 
 
 Both campaigns have probably been sitting on potentially damaging opposition research. Why? Because they don't want to win that way. Political operatives say they hate oppo because they hate to lower the tone of the national discourse. The truth is, oppo is bad for business. The press goes into full Lascivious Puritan mode, spreads the dirt and then tries to nail the provider. When everyone knows a strategist won dirty, he becomes controversial, future clients shy away, and the mortgage on the house in Umbria goes unpaid. But losing is even worse for business. 
 
 Chicago won't go quietly. Be ready for trouble and able of rapid response. 
 
 A version of this article appeared October 6, 2012, on page A13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Romney Deflates the President. ||||| Eastwood spoils Romney's show By Niall Stanage - Tweet TAMPA, Fla. — Mitt Romney satisfied but failed to ignite the final night of the Republican National Convention on Thursday evening, with an address that was polished and competent but only sporadically exciting. 
 
 
 
 More damagingly, perhaps, this most controlled of candidates risked being overshadowed by a bizarre, meandering performance from veteran actor Clint Eastwood. 
 
 
 
 Eastwood used up roughly 10 minutes of network TV prime time with a soft-spoken, ad-libbed address that involved him talking to an empty chair meant to represent President Obama. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The chagrin Romney’s campaign team is likely to feel about that will be heightened because the candidate, often criticized for his supposed lack of natural ease, spoke affectingly of his family. 
 
 
 
 Romney’s eyes moistened at at least two points during the speech: when he recalled his parents as “true partners” and when he spoke about his paternal love for his children. 
 
 
 
 He offered several slivers of red meat to the party faithful, and some were devoured with particular enthusiasm. Perhaps the biggest cheer of the night came when he painted a picture of a nation grown tired of Obama’s grand rhetoric and heady promises. 
 
 
 
 “President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet,” he said as the audience began to laugh. 
 
 
 
 “My promise is to help you and your family,” he added, as the delegates rose cheering in unison. 
 
 
 
 Elsewhere, Romney settled on a more sad than angry critique calibrated to appeal to the voters who provided the president with his winning margin in 2008. These are the people Romney must bring over to his side of the ledger on Nov. 6. 
 
 
 
 In his telling, the Obama presidency began with hope and idealism and is drifting to an end amid disillusionment and dismay. 
 
 
 
 “ ‘Hope and Change’ had a powerful appeal,” he said at one point, citing Obama’s famous 2008 slogans. “But tonight I’d ask a simple question: If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn’t you feel that way now that he’s President Obama?” 
 
 
 
 The tone of those remarks seemed to underline Romney’s mindfulness that polls have shown the nation’s 44th president enjoys resilient personal popularity. This has long complicated the task Romney faces in framing an election-winning argument against him. 
 
 
 
 One way to do so could be by countering the Obama team’s portrayal of Romney as an out-of-touch plutocrat. 
 
 
 
 “In America, we celebrate success, we don’t apologize for success,” he said to another of the night’s biggest cheers. 
 
 
 
 He also emphasized the relatively ordinary landmarks on the way to extraordinary business status. 
 
 
 
 He talked about leaving Michigan, where his father was an auto executive — and later governor — because otherwise “I’d never really know if I was getting a break because of my dad. I wanted to go someplace new and prove myself.” 
 
 
 
 And he recalled his challenging early days as a founder of Bain Capital, saying “while we believed in ourselves, not many other people did.” 
 
 
 
 But Romney’s policy prescriptions were sketches rather than detailed maps, focusing largely on a five-point plan that he has been touting recently on the campaign trail. 
 
 
 
 Several passages of the speech also seemed to drift by without memorable lines, imagery or slogans. And, even as Romney was speaking, Eastwood’s peculiar performance hung in the atmosphere and dominated the discussion on social-media outlets like Twitter. 
 
 
 
 Still, Romney did try to address some long-time challenges head on. 
 
 
 
 Romney highlighted his record of appointing women to senior positions during his tenure as governor of Massachusetts and lavished praise on the women who had spoken earlier in the convention, including former secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and his wife, Ann Romney. 
 
 
 
 For much of his long march to claim the Republican nomination, concerns were raised about how Romney’s Mormonism was viewed, especially by the Christian evangelicals who are well-represented among the GOP’s grassroots. 
 
 
 
 On Thursday evening, Romney spoke with unusual forthrightness of his experiences in that church, and of it providing him with a sense of community and “kinship”. 
 
 
 
 Prominent Republicans in the audience offered enthusiastic praise for Romney’s speech. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told The Hill “I’m very much more confident after tonight. You are going to see a bump, a movement across the country.” 
 
 
 
 But whether the view of GOP politicians like McCarthy will resonate with the undecided voters Romney needs to reach remains an open question — especially since attention now moves on to Obama and the Democrats, who convene in Charlotte, N.C., next week. 
 
 
 
 After Romney spoke, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina released a statement asserting that “with no new plans and evasion about his real plans, Mitt Romney leaves this convention no stronger than he came.” 
 
 
 
 For Romney, the concern will be less about what Democrats say than whether Eastwood’s peculiar performance delivered an August surprise that has damaged his biggest chance to present himself unfiltered to the American people. 
 
 The Hollywood star’s appearance will undoubtedly be a keener subject of water-cooler chat Friday than the acceptance speech of the newly minted GOP nominee.The chagrin Romney’s campaign team is likely to feel about that will be heightened because the candidate, often criticized for his supposed lack of natural ease, spoke affectingly of his family.Romney’s eyes moistened at at least two points during the speech: when he recalled his parents as “true partners” and when he spoke about his paternal love for his children.He offered several slivers of red meat to the party faithful, and some were devoured with particular enthusiasm. Perhaps the biggest cheer of the night came when he painted a picture of a nation grown tired of Obama’s grand rhetoric and heady promises.“President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet,” he said as the audience began to laugh.“My promise is to help you and your family,” he added, as the delegates rose cheering in unison.Elsewhere, Romney settled on a more sad than angry critique calibrated to appeal to the voters who provided the president with his winning margin in 2008. These are the people Romney must bring over to his side of the ledger on Nov. 6.In his telling, the Obama presidency began with hope and idealism and is drifting to an end amid disillusionment and dismay.“ ‘Hope and Change’ had a powerful appeal,” he said at one point, citing Obama’s famous 2008 slogans. “But tonight I’d ask a simple question: If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn’t you feel that way now that he’s President Obama?”The tone of those remarks seemed to underline Romney’s mindfulness that polls have shown the nation’s 44th president enjoys resilient personal popularity. This has long complicated the task Romney faces in framing an election-winning argument against him.One way to do so could be by countering the Obama team’s portrayal of Romney as an out-of-touch plutocrat.“In America, we celebrate success, we don’t apologize for success,” he said to another of the night’s biggest cheers.He also emphasized the relatively ordinary landmarks on the way to extraordinary business status.He talked about leaving Michigan, where his father was an auto executive — and later governor — because otherwise “I’d never really know if I was getting a break because of my dad. I wanted to go someplace new and prove myself.”And he recalled his challenging early days as a founder of Bain Capital, saying “while we believed in ourselves, not many other people did.”But Romney’s policy prescriptions were sketches rather than detailed maps, focusing largely on a five-point plan that he has been touting recently on the campaign trail.Several passages of the speech also seemed to drift by without memorable lines, imagery or slogans. And, even as Romney was speaking, Eastwood’s peculiar performance hung in the atmosphere and dominated the discussion on social-media outlets like Twitter.Still, Romney did try to address some long-time challenges head on.Romney highlighted his record of appointing women to senior positions during his tenure as governor of Massachusetts and lavished praise on the women who had spoken earlier in the convention, including former secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and his wife, Ann Romney.For much of his long march to claim the Republican nomination, concerns were raised about how Romney’s Mormonism was viewed, especially by the Christian evangelicals who are well-represented among the GOP’s grassroots.On Thursday evening, Romney spoke with unusual forthrightness of his experiences in that church, and of it providing him with a sense of community and “kinship”.Prominent Republicans in the audience offered enthusiastic praise for Romney’s speech. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told The Hill “I’m very much more confident after tonight. You are going to see a bump, a movement across the country.”But whether the view of GOP politicians like McCarthy will resonate with the undecided voters Romney needs to reach remains an open question — especially since attention now moves on to Obama and the Democrats, who convene in Charlotte, N.C., next week.After Romney spoke, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina released a statement asserting that “with no new plans and evasion about his real plans, Mitt Romney leaves this convention no stronger than he came.”For Romney, the concern will be less about what Democrats say than whether Eastwood’s peculiar performance delivered an August surprise that has damaged his biggest chance to present himself unfiltered to the American people. —Erik Wasson contributed to this story. Tweet View Comments Source: 
 
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 Three weeks ago Mitt Romney was confronted with a secretly recorded video in which he dismissed President Obama’s supporters—the now famous 47 percent—as congenital moochers who were addicted to government because they took no personal responsibility for themselves. Now he disavows the remarks. “I was completely wrong,” he told Fox News on Thursday. 
 
 John Dickerson John Dickerson is a Slate political columnist, the moderator of CBS’s Face the Nation, and author of Whistlestop and On Her Trail. 
 
 So, in the wake of his impressive debate performance and barely a month before the election, undecided voters are asked to play another round of “Where’s Willard?” Is Mitt Romney the man in that secret video, who thinks ill of almost half the country he hopes to govern? Or is he the man we met in Colorado, an agile master of facts, policies, and economics who seems perfectly personable and maybe even friendly? Or is he someone else altogether? 
 
 The president’s aides say, “Look at the secret video! There he is!” They want you to find the real Romney among the chafing dishes, clinking cutlery, and pricey suits. (A new Obama video says “He said it, he meant it.”) Don’t be fooled by the man on the debate stage, they say. That’s just a mask. To make this case, the president must rely on a conceit that often gets applied to him. Conservatives have argued since 2004 that Obama’s essential liberal desires are always roiling beneath a careful facade. These Republicans sit at the border on night watch, waiting for the moment when a window opens exposing Obama’s inner radical. When they see it, they sound the alarm. Last week, that meant pointing to a video of Obama alternating the intonation of his voice during a speech in front of a predominantly black audience in 2007. 
 
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 Romney’s allies argue that the debate, not the video, revealed the real man. “He has finally shed the duct tape of the primaries,” says GOP strategist Mike Murphy of Romney’s debate performance. Romney took the stage more like the man who won the governorship in the blue state of Massachusetts than the man who won the GOP nomination. 
 
 Get Slate in your inbox. 
 
 But finding the essential Romney isn’t so simple. The experiment itself is flawed. Voters are being asked to detect the truth from two different acts of artifice. One is a set-piece performance recorded by the television networks. The other was a set-piece performance captured by a member of the catering staff. Both are performances. Like all politicians, Romney was playing to the crowd in both cases. The question is not which one represents the true Romney, but which crowd will he play to when he’s in office. 
 
 The essential character of Mitt Romney matters because we can never have a policy debate detailed enough to see exactly how his values will play out when the hard choices need to be made. Both candidates agree that the federal government must be rebalanced between the services people expect and the taxes they are willing to pay for those services. So who do you trust? 
 
 We can certainly try to look at policies. In the debate, Romney and Obama traded accusations about their Medicare ideas. Romney believes the free market can lower costs and retain quality. President Obama believes that costs can be cut through government nudges of the free market. 
 
 How do we know who has the better policy? We can look at studies and try to follow their reasoning. Sometimes there aren’t enough studies or the candidates don’t want to answer our follow-up questions. With Mitt Romney, in particular, on the questions of taxes and Medicare, his goals are so grand as to be either fantastical or untestable. If they don’t work out as planned, his aides say, he’ll tweak them. So even when we want to talk about policy, we find ourselves circling back to the same place: Trust me. ||||| President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are skipping campaigning Sunday to focus on preparing for their debate Tuesday night, with the incumbent trying to rebound from a widely panned performance at the first face-off and the Republican nominee hoping to repeat his strong showing. 
 
 Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney picks up a baby as he campaigns in front of The Golden Lamb Inn and Restaurant in Lebanon, Ohio, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012. (AP... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Barack Obama walks to greet people on the tarmac as he arrives at Newport News Williamsburg International Airport on Air Force One, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012, in Williamsburg, Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn... (Associated Press) 
 
 Graphic compares electoral and popular vote for presidential elections since 1960, shift in party preference by state since 1992, exit poll results from 2004 and 2008, state voting history since 1976,... (Associated Press) 
 
 The president was gathering with advisers at a riverfront resort in Williamsburg while Romney was sticking to his Boston-area home ahead of the prime-time town-hall style debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., exactly three weeks before the Nov. 6 election. 
 
 After a listless first debate Oct. 3, Obama was working with aides on more pointed and aggressive responses to his Republican rival in the tight race. While dismissing Romney's debate tenor as "magical and theatrical," Obama adviser Robert Gibbs predicted the president would step up his game in the second matchup. 
 
 "He knew when he walked off that stage, and he also knew as he watched the tape of that debate, that he has to be more energetic. I think you'll see somebody who is very passionate about the choice that our country faces," Gibbs said on CNN's "State of the Union." 
 
 Romney will be ready for a more aggressive Obama, adviser Ed Gillespie said. 
 
 "The president can change his style, he can change his tactics, he can't change his record and he can't change his policies. And that's what this election is about," Gillespie told CNN. 
 
 Romney's campaign released a new television advertisement using footage from running mate Paul Ryan's debate last week with Vice President Joe Biden. The ad features clips of Ryan saying the government "can't keep spending money we don't have." His comments are juxtaposed with video from the debate of Biden laughing. 
 
 The campaign did not say in which states the ad would run. 
 
 Obama aides have tried to make debate preparations a higher priority for the president this time. Ahead of first debate, some of Obama's practice sessions were cut short, and others were canceled, mainly because of developments in Libya, where four Americans were killed at a U.S. consulate. 
 
 Aides say Obama is still dealing with those matters and others. But the urgency that led to interruptions during earlier debate preparations has subsided, and the campaign is trying to ensure that Obama stays more fully engaged in his practice sessions. 
 
 Despite questions about the effectiveness of his debate preparation, Obama is working with the same team this time around. Advisers David Axelrod and David Plouffe, along with former White House officials Anita Dunn and Ron Klain, are running the preparations. Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes has been added to the team because the second and third debates involve foreign policy. 
 
 Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., is playing the role of Romney. 
 
 One of the priorities during the practice sessions is sharpening the president's retorts to Romney and drawing a sharper contrast between what the campaign says are Romney's shifting positions on key issues. 
 
 The president may have picked up a few pointers from Biden. 
 
 Obama watched Thursday's debate with aides in a conference room on Air Force One as he traveled back to Washington. The president said little throughout the debate, but did chime in when Biden would deliver a particularly pointed counter to Ryan. 
 
 Romney returned to Massachusetts on Saturday night after campaigning in Ohio. He planned to spend most of his two days at home in Belmont getting ready for the debate. 
 
 With Romney is Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who's playing Obama in mock debates. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt in Boston and Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington contributed to this report.
– Everyone from the left to the right thinks Mitt Romney smoked President Obama in last night's debate, but how will that translate to the polls? Nate Silver of the New York Times says it's possible he could see a gain of about 3 points, about as high as these things get. He likens it to Romney kicking a field goal, which makes more sense when you recall that Silver had Romney down by a touchdown before the debate. Romney hasn't tied the game, but he's set "himself up in such a way that his comeback chances have improved by a material amount." A sampling of other opinions today: Roger Simon, Politico: "It’s not that Romney’s performance was perfect or polished—it wasn’t—it’s just that Obama’s was so mediocre. ... I think he was just overtired or over-distracted or over-something. But he sure wasn’t over-energetic." Ben Smith, BuzzFeed: Romney's biggest task was to prove "he could stand on stage with President Barack Obama as an equal and a plausible president of the United States." Check. Matt Miller, Washington Post: Well played, Romney. Miller expected him to track to the middle more quickly after the primaries, but maybe this is better. "If he wins, of course, Romney and his advisers will be hailed as geniuses for their timing, for bonding the party faithful to the ticket with the choice of Paul Ryan and a conservative-themed convention, and then dashing to the center for the home stretch."