October 16, 2012

Round Two: Live presidential debate coverage starts now

Weigh in on tonight’s second presidential debate with your own predictions and citizen punditry ahead of time. Stay tuned for news updates all day. And when you’re dual-screening the debate tonight, make bostonherald.com your web go-to.The Boston Herald will have blow-by-blow coverage and analysis as Round Two unfolds tonight, as well as a live chat and livestreaming video of the 9 p.m faceoff at Hofstra University. Check back here for news updates all day. Post your own top questions for President Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney in comments.,.....



Whose to lose?

So who’s the underdog now? Tough call. Obama still leads in the Electoral College projections at realclearpolitics.com, but his once commanding 88 vote lead has dropped to 10 votes in the last couple of weeks, and the RCP poll average has flipped, with Romney now narrowly leading 47.4 percent to 47.3 percent today.


Charm offensive

After a disastrously lackluster performance two weeks ago in Colorado, Obama is seen as needing to come out swinging against a commanding, confident Romney. But the town hall format has him taking citizens’ questions ... not the place for mud wrestling ... and Vice President Joe Biden’s smirkfest last week is not just a national joke, it did nothing to halt the boss’ poll woes. That suggests there’s peril in ramping the ampage too high. So will the president fall back on the famous Obama charm instead?

Meanwhile, Romney also has to hit the right note, defending and striking back without appearing too aggressive or cocky. Does the famously starch-shirted exec -- running as a corporate fix-it guy -- maintain the voice of command or loosen his collar while in among the regular folk? Gloves ... on or off?

The politics have no clothes!

Pundits tells the Herald that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s claim of responsibility in the Benghazi attack -- she takes the fall for the failure to boost security ahead of time and the changing stories afterward -- looks like a naked bid to give her boss cover ahead of tonight’s debate. Your take? How large will Libya loom?

Will that wagging dog hunt?

Reports of special forces and drones moving into place -- for a possible strike on the as-yet undetermined and unlocated perpetrators of the Benghazi attack -- raise the prospect of a not particularly surprising October surprise. But will it play as a wag-the-dog move or strike a chord as righteous vengeance? Are you concerned about the role politics might play in military operations?

Waitress moms

They’re the new soccer/security moms of an economically battered America. Is Obama losing the key women’s vote, and what does he need to do to win them back?

Everything in moderation

Can CNN’s Candy Crowley be trusted to be fair as she sorts through questions submitted by purportedly undecided voters? With moderators’ performances almost as much of the story as candidates in recent debates, what do you want Crowley to do tonight? Or is there someone else you’d like to see refereeing this faceoff?

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