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Romney Campaign Press Release - What They're Saying: Romney "Looked And Sounded Presidential"

October 23, 2012


"Romney Did What He Needed To Do" ... "He Gets The Win" ... "Looked Cooler Than A Sometimes Peevish Mr. Obama"

The Wall Street Journal: Mitt Romney "Wasn't Rattled, And If Anything Looked Cooler Than A Sometimes Peevish Mr. Obama." "Mr. Romney was clearly keeping his eye on his main challenge of the evening, which was looking Presidential on issues that offer an incumbent a natural advantage. He passed that test with ease, making no major mistakes while offering impressive detail on everything from the radical government in Mali—make that 'north Mali'—to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. He wasn't rattled, and if anything looked cooler than a sometimes peevish Mr. Obama." (The Wall Street Journal, 10/23/12)

New York Post: "Romney More Than Held His Own, Proving Himself A More-Than-Credible Potential Commander-In-Chief.  ... He Gets The Win." "President Obama went on the attack against Mitt Romney again last night in their final debate — a tactic usually reserved for the challenger. The president, no doubt, felt the need — given Romney's recent surge in the polls and Obama's disappointing record on foreign-policy issues, the topic of the debate. But Romney more than held his own, proving himself a more-than-credible potential commander-in-chief. By that alone, he gets the win." (New York Post, 10/23/12)

ABC News' Rick Klein: "In A Debate About Who Should Be Commander-In-Chief, Mitt Romney Was Just As Much In Command As The Man In The Job Now." (ABC News, 10/23/12)

Time's Mark Halperin: Romney "Completed The Trifecta Of Appearing As The President's Semiotic Equal In Every Debate." (Time, 10/22/12)

The Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens: "Mitt Romney Emerges Looking Like A Perfectly Plausible President..." "[Romney's] most effective turns in the debate came when he brought it all back to the economy. He seemed reasonable and tempered and pragmatic and unruffled and therefore presidential. ... But Mitt Romney emerges looking like a perfectly plausible president—which was no doubt all he wanted from tonight." (The Wall Street Journal, 10/23/12)

Politico's Alexander Burns: Romney Had "A Cooler Approach To The Debate That Reflected His Enhanced Stature..." "Romney, for his part, took a cooler approach to the debate that reflected his enhanced stature in a race that has tightened since the first debate in Denver at the start of October." (Politico, 10/22/12)

CNN's John King: "After Three Debates, The Trend Line Is Moving Governor Romney's Way." "After three debates, the trend line is moving Governor Romney's way. In all nine tossup states, Governor Romney was in a stronger position this morning than he was the day before the first debate" (CNN, 10/22/12)

Politico's Glenn Thrush: Romney "Showed An Easy Mastery Of The Details That Has Sometimes Bedeviled Lesser Candidates." "Rules or no, Romney was at his most effective when calmly articulating his economic case and calling out the president for failing to articulate a detailed vision for his second term. ... Romney didn't embarrass himself on the issues, and showed an easy mastery of the details that has sometimes bedeviled lesser candidates." (Politico, 10/23/12)

New York Daily News' Joshua Greenman: "But For The Purposes Of Fast-Approaching Nov. 6, What Happened Was: Romney Did What He Needed To Do." (New York Daily News, 10/23/12)

Politico's John Harris: Obama Had "A Nitpicking, Overly Aggressive Strategy ... Diminishing The President's Greatest Asset Which Is The Fact He Is Already Commander In Chief." HARRIS: "I felt that in a number of times when the president was making his point so aggressively. What was communicated in those exchanges was not strength and confidence but what was communicated was a kind of, sort of a nitpicking, overly aggressive strategy which had the effect of diminishing the president's greatest asset which is the fact he is already commander in chief." (C-SPAN, 10/22/12)

Commentary Magazine's Jonathan Tobin: "Obama Wasn't Able To Throw Romney Off His Game Or Embarrass Him ... It Was Romney That Looked And Sounded Presidential..." "Despite interruptions and attempts to turn even the points they agreed upon into disagreements, Obama wasn't able to throw Romney off his game or embarrass him. By contrast, it was Romney that looked and sounded presidential, avoiding issues that work to the Democrats' advantage like Afghanistan and refusing to be ruffled." (Commentary Magazine, 10/23/12)

Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes: "Mitt Romney's Aim Was To Present Himself With The Demeanor And Grasp Of Foreign And National Security Issues Of A President Of The United States. He Succeeded." (Weekly Standard, 10/23/12)

Mitt Romney, Romney Campaign Press Release - What They're Saying: Romney "Looked And Sounded Presidential" Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/303647

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