Romney and I don't think it is because of the moderator but now that the liberal commentators at MSNBC are recovering from their shock they are trying to lay blame there. I guess the Obama peopel can hope for a more sympathetic moderator in the next debate.

President Obama - Romney lacked manners and facts.

Romney won. Thank God for someone with business sense. As a small business owner I completely agree with Romney and feel the President has a incorrect view for our economy and country. The President has had 4 years! But all we have gotten is failed policy. We have more people out of work than 4 years ago. We have more people on welfare. We have a DEBT ( I.e. How much we owe) that has DOUBLED under the President. The President has increased more debt than ALL Presidents combined in the history of our country, and he did it in just 4 years. Romney has experience in the business world where debts and deficits don't fly, and where this means failure. Romney succeeded in business and as governor and will as President. Vote Roxmney!

CNN Poll: Romney wins debate by big margin.

(CNN) – 67% of registered voters who watched the debate said GOP nominee Mitt Romney won the debate, while 25% said President Barack Obama came out as the winner, according to a CNN/ORC International Poll released late Wednesday night.

For the survey, 430 adult Americans were interviewed by telephone after the end of the debate. The poll does not and cannot reflect the views of all Americans. It only represents the views of people who watched the event.

The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Romney was stronger. Obama was not willing to engage directly.

Romney, hands down. I'm not a big fan of Romney, but this country can't have four more years of Obama. Tonight, Romney mopped the floor with Obama - pushed him down and took his lunch money.

We might just have a real race finally.

Even FLOTUS hates POTUS tonight....He was right, it will just be the two of them at next years anniversary...

Romney,hands down!Ole Mitt proved he has a righteous set of stones,afterall!!!

It looked to me like Obama kept looking at his notes or looking down at who knows what instead of how when Obama talked Romney looked at the audience and at Obama. Obama if you want four more years you better do better then you did tonight. Plus Rome was not built in a day. Obama inherited a big mess, that is going to take more then his 4 years in to clean up and when all the senators do is argue with each other instead of getting anything done, As for health insurance we should have the same coverage as the senators in the White House, let them not have insurance or let them have to take a cut in pay. We vote them in and none them are doing their jobs. They get to be in there a life time and that should change just like you can only be in office for president for so many years why not put a cut on the senators. Some are too old and need to retire.

People see what they want to see, but Romney was clearly the winner by a large margin. He appeared eager to correct Obama when false data was presented. I felt Obama received more time to answer a question than Romney, but then again Romney said what needed to be said in a short amount of time. There were times where Obama didn't answer the question, restate himself, or he would go off topic. Romney was impressive. The clear winner!

You could tell President Obama was not at his best because he couldn't keep up with his false front and his double mindedness showed when he made the major slip in his closing comments by saying "everyone will get their fair share" then quickly corrected himself by saying "everyone will do their fair share".

Honestly, I feel like nothing was actually said during the debates. They were nitpicking at vague assertions, without actually making any conclusive statements.

Willard Mitt Romney was the clear winner with the facts to support his direction. Obama was lost wihout his Tel-A-Prompter. Romney knows what he will be dong to get our great nation going again, Obama on the other hand kept talking like we are out of the recession - - - - he has been on too many vacations to know what is going on with the rest of us. We need a better direction and Willard Mitt Romney has it !!!

How do you correct 8 years of miss management in 4 years? Unfortunately, we have become a McDonald's/fast fix and greedy society. Of course it is going to take time to fix our economy because we are a global economy. Mr. Romney did win the debate.
I am concern that under a republican administration we will become a rich and poor society with nothing in the middle. I see that handwriting on the wall and the message is not good for the average American citizen.
Pat.

The debate turned into a LECTURE!
Mr. Romney came across as a leader.
I can't stand the thought of 4 more years of BO.

In the infamous words of the first black president, Obama better put some ice on it because he was verbally assaulted last night.

THe fools that think Obama won the debate are part of the 47% who want the govenment to take care of them. Romney told the truth about them. Obama's performance looked like someone on the Detroit City Council.

All of these comments make me want to scratch out my eyes.

Mitt looked Presidential…..Obama looked smug and disinterested. Mitt said it right……the president's job is too keep the country safe and uphold the Constitution. The people should have control, not the government!

I think it doesn't actually matter who "won" this "debate".....We, The People, ALL lose with either one of these candidates. We need to stop bickering over nonsense and do away with this ineffective two party system.

Romney soundly beat Obama with the Facts of the last 4 years, beat him with his own record. It's easy for Obama to spread lies when the mans not face to face, different story when whom you're lieing about is there to call you on it!

They both won or are "winning." The only thing I see for sure with only two choices, the people are LOSING!

A sign of strength look me in the eye when you talk to me. A sign of weakness look down at the floor.

I'm not sure why the media thinks Romney won the debate. He gave no specifics about his policies, and got called out on lying on his own tax plan. He said he would cut spending, but couldn't think of anything other than PBS that he would cut spending on. He essentially admitted that his plans would increase the deficit.

But what do you expect from the conservative media? Light on facts, and heavy on rhetoric.

Romney won, in that he looked better than Obama and scored more points based on what his voters want to hear, which are bold statements they can call "facts."

Romney consistently overstated information and tried to pass it off as fact. He overstated the number of unemployed, he overstated Obama's impact on energy production, he overstated the number of green energy companies that have gone out of business, and he overstated the costs associated with Obamacare.

Obama was inexplicably flat. He made some very solid points, and he also engaged in some creative presentation of statistics. I know it was almost inevitable that Romney would see a bounce after this debate, but I'm very disappointed in the president's performance.

Obama was lost without his TelePrompTer, or having the topics listed in advance (although everyone else had a good idea), without the liberal biased media covering him, and even with Lerher's obvious prompting and coaching.

Romney is full of substance and knowledge and is driven. Obama is full of himself, and something else that I cannot type here. Starts with S and ends with T.

Those who support Obama are doing so on a feeling and not actually looking at performance, facts, and the last 4 years. They're just looking for hand outs.

Vote for Obama if you hate your children and grandchildren. Who else do you think is going to pay for all his spending?

No wonder he is so popular with this "Me.....Now!!" generation. They lost their homes because they bought homes they couldn't afford, they lease cars they can't afford to buy, and they carry thousands of dollars of credit card debt. Obama is just one of them..........except it's the whole country he is burying under debt.

Romney was the clear winner last night. It seemed the President was very uncomfortable with a man standing directly in front of him articulating an opposing view point. The lack of direct eye contact led me to believe that he was very uncomfortable. In life if you argue for truth no one can break you. I don't hold a particular party line, but you can always count on me to judge people on their achievements and not on their lofty promises. Let's stop allowing our leaders to spend more than is taken in. We don't run our households and businesses that way. If I overspend I can't go to my boss and strong arm him into giving me a raise no matter how much I think I deserve his money more than he does. We the people can lose sight that our leaders are stewards of all that makes the country so great. They are not smarter and more savvy than you and I, choose the ones that have demonstrated common sense along the way. And not by their supposed charisma. Some of the worst atrocities committed against man in history was that at the hands of charismatic leaders.

That is President Obama NOT Obama. If you like him or not he holds the highest title in the United States of America. Give him the respect he has earned.

Everyone should get a chuckle from "best debate tweets" on CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/04/tech/social-media/debate-funniest-tweets/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

A couple of my favs:
e Weigel -- This is like watching a tax law professor debate an investment advice infomercial host
Sarah Littman ‏-- Mitt: "I like coal" - Poor people will find it in their stockings if I am President.

Always the LIBERAL media when U conservatives disagree!!

If you think Romney clobbered Obama last night, wait til you see what Paul Ryan does to Biden. We have a president and a vice president who are either too inexperienced or incompetent

The debate clearly showed that Obama simply can't play with the big boys. The sad thing is, just like 4 years ago, there are still a bunch of people who will vote based on emotion, and the community coordinator will get back in. Then, in four years, the right will be back to fill us with their brand of wha-wha, and the cycle will start all over again. Politics at its finest...

Do not mistake confidence and assertiveness for smug and rude. Romney needed to speak up when Obama skewed the facts, and Romney made sure he had his chance to make his points clear. Even Obama looked like he was ready to vote for Romney after this one!

Who cares?
What matters is to go to the polls and vote.
If you don't vote, you can't complain.

Chris Matthews Freaks Out At Obama: "What Was He Doing?"
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/10/03/chris_matthews_freaks_out_at_obama_after_debate_romney_was_winning.html#.UG0B4jRWM-o.facebook

I don't know who won the debate but I do know we will continue to lose our liberties regardless of who wins in November.

Concerning last nights Presidential debate, a CNN poll done within the last 24 hours says that by a wide margin - more than 66 percent - more than 2/3rds - of those polled cited Mitt Romney as the winner of the debate. That means Mister Romney won the debate by the highest margin of anybody since 1984 when the question of "Who Won?" was first asked.

That Mr Romney blew the potus (president of the United States)-for-the-moment out of the water was a surprise to a few, but anticipated by others. Governor Chris Christie - who has come to the aid and rescue of the foundering ship called the State of New Jersey - said the debate would turn things upside down. He was correct. (continued)

Besides potus-for-the-moment, another huge loser last night was the "WE DON'T FERRET OUT THE NEWS - WE PREFER TO SNOOZE" media that has been devastated in the digital age and become mere stenographers - repeating the same garbage dictated to them - rather than taking the more honorable route of being Detectives in the Public Interest and being Guardians of the Public Trust. They still haven't figured out how to bring in the dollars like they used to. Its cheaper to recycle the same old garbage and or be force fed the daily tripe and manure emanating from Washington. They painted potus-for-the-moment in one way - their way. They painted candidate for Presidency Mitt Romney another way - their way. As usual - their rhetorical sham, deceit and lies created falseness and mis-perception. Their deceit came back to bite them in the proverbial a$$. Their intentional portrayal, their false narrative and intentional mismatch of rhetoric and reality finally caught up with the whole sordid lot. Their emperor in fact had no swaddling clothes, and WAS NOT lying in a manger - although he WAS lying - like the way he implied that we could use deficit money - money we owed - and apply it towards things we as a country need. The emperor was bare indeed, with no clothes whatsoever. When a poll says more than 2/3rds of those polled cited Romney as the winner of the debate - it means people are seeing through the falseness, the facade, the tripe the bulls**t and the smoke and mirrors.
(contd)

(continued)
They are a compliant, docile, manipulable bunch - the"WE DON'T FERRET OUT THE NEWS - WE PREFER TO SNOOZE" group. They ask no tough questions of potus-for-the-moment and it showed last night - BIG TIME. A Detroit analogy - we saw the two cars in front of us - side by side - with no fat, loud-mouthed, cigar chewing, spinning, lying and deceiving slimy salesman standing in our way, telling us how to feel about what our own eyes, ears, and gut told us. And the President himself makes matters worse. He apparently doesn't worry about anything and he doesn't hold press conferences that would work toward the unprecedented transparency he falsely promised four years ago, along with other lies like, for instance, how he would cut the deficit in half.
ITS THE ECONOMY STUPID
CNN also asked economists for their take as to who would be better for the economy. Between President Mitt Romney or potus-for-the-moment, President Mitt Romney was the Economists preferred choice by a ratio of 3 to 1. Seventeen economists were asked. Five opted out. A large majority of 9 maintained that President MITT ROMNEY would be BEST FOR THE ECONOMY while only 3 out of 12 thought potus-for-the-moment would.
In my opinion, the majority of economists also got that right.

California better wake up and realize we are worse than what Obama has done to the country. Romney kicked Obama's butt and there is more to come. We need Romney as our president if we want our America back. It really hurts my head that any sane person could want another 4 years of this. Hasn't anyone gone to the gas station, grocery store? Chris Mattrews is a jerk, he even made a statement that Clinton could land on Mars and reproduce in 5 minutes. This was after the DNC convention. He certainly was right about that. Step up to the plate and let's get this credit rating on America back up, Get people back to work, stop people from struggling with homes and be able to fill our gas tanks with 20 bucks. Romney will win and so will we!!!! ROMNEY/RYAN all the way..

I agree - VOTE for ROMNEY/RYAN!

Everyone's expectations of Mittens were so low that forming coherent sentences on stage was considered a victory.

Kudos to the Romney campaign.

President Obama listens during the first presidential debate, at the University of Denver on Oct. 3, 2012 -- Well, I’m with all the other talking heads: Mitt Romney won this debate. Barack Obama lost it. I mean, he got his butt kicked. It was, in fact, one of the most inept performances I’ve ever seen by a sitting President. Romney — giving credit where it’s due — was calm, clear, convincing (even when he was totally full of it) and nearly human. The real mystery was Obama. Where on earth was he? Why was his debate strategy unilateral disarmament? Why did he never speak in plain English? “Mitt, you’re selling a fantasy. Bill Clinton proved it. He raised taxes on the wealthy and the economy boomed. George Bush lowered taxes drastically and the economy tanked. How’s your plan any different than Bush’s?” Actually, the President did say something like that, but it was well past most of America’s bedtime, about an hour into the debate — and he didn’t do it clearly, concisely or directly. It gets worse. By Joe Klein

Obama, Romney Twist Two Crucial Issues in First Debate) You may have noticed that the President never mentioned his most important achievement in the most crucial states: the auto bailout. He never said, “That $716 billion in Medicare savings you keep harping on? That was in Paul Ryan’s Republican budget — you know, Mitt, the one that passed the House because all the Republicans voted for it.” Romney was even able to imply that he may not have such a good accountant when it comes to taking advantage of sending companies overseas without the President saying, “I think you have a terrific accountant, Mitt! Great tax rate!” You may also have noticed that when Romney deftly compared the $2.8 billion in oil subsidies to the President’s $90 billion in green energy, Obama didn’t have a response. This was truly remarkable. He didn’t talk about the world’s largest sun and wind farms. He didn’t talk about the failed energy investments that Romney had made. My colleague Michael Grunwald spent nearly 500 convincing pages in his book The New New Deal describing the accomplishments of the stimulus package, and the President couldn’t even defend it. By Joe Klein

(MORE: Blue Truth, Red Truth: Inside the Fact Wars) Obama’s cool was ice cold. It was 30 minutes into the debate, by my count, before he mentioned an actual human being. Romney was talking about people who were “crushed” and “buried” — pace Joe Biden — and “hurting” in his very first answer. Romney managed to wax poetic about the pursuit of happiness, meaning that government should help everyone find the American Dream, without the President saying, “Even that 47% you said you don’t care about?” How could he go through an entire debate without mentioning or even hinting at that 47% remark? By Joe Klein

So we now have a race. I don’t know whether this debate will move the polls very much — it may well — but it will certainly boost Romney’s confidence, and it has to give the President some doubts, despite his vaunted self-confidence. I must say that I’ll sleep better knowing Romney opposes banks that are too big to fail (although he didn’t say how) and will regulate Wall Street, eliminate most tax deductions for the wealthy (he put a clever $25,000 or $50,000 cap on deductions) and force insurance companies to cover those with pre-existing conditions (even though he would turn over health policy to the states — how on earth did Obama fail to pick up on that one?). But I must admit, once again, to being mystified. Did the President send out his body double to this debate? Because if that were the actual Barack Obama out there, I’m not sure he could communicate well enough to be an effective President in a time of trouble, to say nothing of winning a second term. By Joe Klein | @JoeKleinTIME | October 3, 2012

Obama was never properly vetted in the first place.

And now, my friends... the annoited one has CLEARLY had his feelings hurt.

Thank you.

I suppose all the comments left by people who thought Obama won the debate are also going to vote yes to recall Janice Daniels. Not only will the country be in trouble if Obama gets re-elected, but the City of Troy will be in trouble if Janice is recalled. Finally a mayor who has the guts to do what's needed to be done in Troy years ago!

I hope Americans are waking up...Obama is a socialist..

These are some truly astonishing comments. Equal parts ignorance of history, willing disbelief in the culpability Congressional Republicans share for the gridlock we've suffered through, free-flowing contempt for the President, tolerance for pernicious dog-whistle racism, and snarling disdain for anyone with a different opinion. Romney may have "won" the debate, but these comments provide a chilling glimpse into the conservative soul...such that if I met any of you on the street I'd be worried about the potential for physical violence if you knew I was an Obama supporter with Progressive views. My hope is that you are all simply venting, taking full advantage of "clever" screen names and anonymity to avoid being accountable for your angry and spiteful comments.

POTUS (president of the US) proved he is lost without TOTUS(teleprompter of the US)

What makes people think a first-term senator who spent most of that first term running for another office is qualified to oversee the world's largest economy? Obama is in over his head.

Define "socialist." Please.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQZ5_qdHLV8&feature=youtu.be

now what ??

Read about all of the more than 20 false statements and lies that Romney told at the debate.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/10/04/958801/at-last-nights-debate-romney-told-27-myths-in-38-minutes/?mobile=nc

How can anyone trust this Republican extremist who will say ANYTHING to get elected!

FHV - I don't trust the lawyery equivocation.Romney never SAID "$5 trillion tax cut", but there's no credible analysis saying a 20% cut for all PLUS keep Bush cuts can be done w/o a bigger hole in deficit and/or raising taxes on middle class.

Romney, Ryan (in debates) and advisor Ed Gillespie says we have SIX "studies". Fox News' Chris Wallace: During the debate Paul Ryan provided no additional specifics about the tax plan. He’s said we should leave the matter up to congressional negotiation.

“Why is it all right to tell voters about the candy [the 20-percent across-the-board tax cut] but let’s not tell them about the spinach, which is, you’re gonna lose some deductions?”

Gillespie said they have discussed deductions, and said they can’t start negotiating “in a campaign environment.” Gillespie further defended the math, saying, “Six different studies have said this is entirely doable.”

Wallace deemed some studies “questionable.”One of them “is a blog from a guy who was a top adviser to George W. Bush.”So there are hardly nonpartisan studies.”

Gillespie argued that Harvard and the American Enterprise Institute, among others, “are very credibly sources for economic analysis.”

“You wouldn’t say that AEI is a conservative think tank?” Wallace asked.

“I would say it is a right-leaning think tank,” Gillespie replied. “That doesn’t make it not credible.”

“It doesn’t make it nonpartisan,” Wallace countered.

FHVoice - just found the "Harvard study" saying Romney plan "doable". It's actually NOT a study, but an Opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal from former Reagan aide and current Harvard Professor. So it is opinion, not an actual study.

Feldstein argues in his opinion piece that Romney's plan works IF, I say, only IF you assume US growth would be much stronger (when is growth and job trickle down supposed to occur? short-term, long-term? how exactly would we accomplish?) and IF you DEFINE MIDDLE CLASS as households making LESS THAN $100,000 households,rather than making less than $200,000 as Romney states in his plan.

So thay way he can say "I will NOT raise taxes on the middle class", but the voter doesn't realize that he's no longer classified as "middle class" in a Romney admin. Ah, the surprises that would await us in a Romney administration would be like a box of chocolates. You'd never be sure what you're gonna get.

Hey, does anybody feel that neither one of these two people deserves to be president? How about we jump the gun and allow BIG BIRD to be president? Big Bird could do a whole lot better than both Barack Obama, and Mitt Romney put together. LOL. BIG BIRD FOR PRESIDENT. How about it everybody?

Romney paid ZERO taxes between 1996 to 2009 while the rest of us did according to this latest report.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-avoids-taxes-via-loophole-cutting-mormon-donations.html

Mr. Independent - yes, I saw that CRU deduction. Legal, but pretty sneaky way to "borrow" a church's non-profit status. Romney's taxes are not your average tax returns.

He didn't want us to know that HE is actually part of the 47% (leeching off gov't through loopholes)!!!!