Biden: Mission Accomplished
October 12, 2012 Leave a comment
My official VP debate analysis: Biden’s job was to be aggressive (in the way Obama decidedly was not) and to fire up the Democratic base. He did that. Thus barring an overwhelmingly good Ryan performance (which no one is claiming), that’s a Democratic win given the current strategic context. This debate changes the media narrative in a positive way for Dems. Honestly, it may have worked against Al Gore, but if the best Republicans can do is argue that Biden was rude, that’s not a winning line. Romney was rude (though much smoother at it than Biden).
The fact that CBS’s insta-poll of 500 undecided voters showed a clear Biden win, will also help shape the narrative going forward. And I imagine that, like after his convention speech, fact checkers may well have a field day with Ryan.
Two weeks ago I would’ve suggested it was close to preposterous that a VP debate could have much meaningful effect. But I also would’ve suggest it was absolutely crazy to suggest that a weak and passive Obama performance would cause him to lose 4-5 points to Romney in national polls. So, who knows.
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