AP PHOTO/LM OTERO
THREE DAYS IN
OCTOBER
sparring with political reporters,
however, who were a little more
frank about the impact of the debates. Michelle Flournoy was undersecretary of defense for policy
from 2009 to 2012 and could be
secretary of defense if Obama gets a
second term. When I asked her for
her impression of the debates, she
said Obama had been better over
the course of all three debates, but
admitted, in a nod to the first one
in Denver, “Certainly these debates
have probably had more impact on
this race than has been the case in
many previous elections.”
HUFFINGTON
11.04.12
In the era of televised debates, a
few stand out. The Kennedy-Nixon debates in 1960 were the first
to be shown on TV, and are widely
credited for giving the younger,
more photogenic Kennedy a big
edge. Ronald Reagan’s one 1980
debate with incumbent Jimmy
Carter, a week before election
day, is thought to have given Reagan a large boost toward victory.
And veterans of George W. Bush’s
campaign said that after Al Gore
sighed his way through the first
2000 debate, that helped Bush
overcome a deficit of a few points.
Romney
cracks a joke
with adviser
Ron Kaufman
aboard his
campaign
charter plane
before its
take off from
San Diego.