Winners and losers from the second presidential debate

Debates are about moments — the moments that get replayed again and again in the after-action analysis — and President Obama had three: 1) his line about how his pension wasn’t as big as Romney’s 2) winning, against all odds, the scrap about the Benghazi attack (with an assist from moderator Candy Crowley) and 3) his strong close in which he used Romney’s “47 percent” comments as a cudgel to beat up his rival. Obama’s performance wasn’t flawless and he didn’t score a clean win as Romney did in the first debate. But, he was the better performer this time around.

Winners and losers from the second presidential debate

[Pet peeve: Obama’s line wasn’t “about how his pension wasn’t as big as Romney’s” it was “about how his pension isn’t as big as Romney’s.” I hate this convention of making something past tense that wasn’t and still isn’t past. It’s lazy, at best.]