Vidi
CDZ prohibited
I dunno, Newt is pretty tough in a debate. Romney held his own but he never scathed him. I imagine that Romney will have plenty of debate ammo considering Obama's lackluster performance as president.
One thing that I have noticed about Obama is he doesn't seem presidential (we disagree on that) and Romney as always struck me as presidential looking. ~shrug~ Different folks, different opinions. I do agree with you about the weight being the incumbent brings with.
I have been saying for years now that Romney just looks presidential.
Newt did do well in the debates, but as you say Romney did not exactly consistently beat him in the debates. The candidates he seemed (to me) to defeat in the debates (Perry: "Oops") were weak debaters.
If you polled people in 2008 on who looked more presidential they probably would have picked Romney (and Edwards, McCain...) over Obama (and Clinton). But in 2012, Obama is president, and all else equal someone who is president seems more presidential than someone who isn't. Look at the last debates between a sitting president and a challenger: Transcript: Bush, Kerry debate domestic policies - CNN. I think Kerry would have been a better president than Bush, but there's no denying that Bush seems like the president and Kerry seems like a guy who would like to be president.
Look at it this way.
Romney had trouble with the guys who were the dumbest. The guys who actually had a brain in their heads, he held his own.
Its like chess. Its actually easier to beat someone who knows what theyre doing because you can see what their next move might be.
Crazy is hard to debate.
This forum should be proof of that.