I thought Romney won big, he made several points about the poor economic growth and UE numbers, and thoroughly debunked Obama's claims of 5 trillion in tax cuts and 2 trillion in more defense spending. And he hammered him on the 716 billion cuts in Medicare, I didn't think Obama came out of it looking very good. BUT - we got a couple more to go, and I would expect a much more combative president next time. Can't imagine how we're going to stay anywhere near close to the time limits in future debates.
He didn't debunk, he lied. The study Romney says agrees with him, said the numbers he uses don't add up.
"The Heritage Foundation study uses the Tax Policy Center analysis as a starting point, but then argues that the $86 billion gap it cites in Romney's plan can be closed, mainly through a more aggressive elimination of deductions that are used heavily by upper-income households. Those deductions, including the one for municipal-bond interest and one for life-insurance interest, are ones that the Tax Policy Center figured would be protected under Romney's espoused goal of preserving incentives for investment.
So a core element of the debate is over what incentives for investment Romney would preserve or expand. The Tax Policy Center assumes a broad definition. The Heritage Foundation assumes Romney would take a narrower view.
Both agree that Romney hasn't spelled out the details."
Romney tax plan: Is it 'mathematically impossible' or not? - CSMonitor.com