Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will take to the stage tonight to battle it out in the second presidential debate of the 2012 election. But first, we’re going to take a look back at the race so far
Right, I won’t lie, I haven’t seen a bit of this US presidential lark so far. So, what’s been going on?
Well, there’s been quite a bit going on in this presidential campaign, as with most. The Republicans were struggling to gain ground in the polls and the Democrats were doing their best just not to c*ck things up, however, both sides have made some monumental gaffes in the past few weeks leaving the campaign fairly open – for both sides. The Democrats do have their Vice President to thank after Obama’s fairly poor performance in the first debate – where he lacked any real authority on the matters that were brought up.
So what types of gaffes have the two presidents fallen victim to? Were there any ‘interns’ found under the desk in the oval office?
Sadly, neither of the two candidates are half as cool as Big Bill Clinton. But they have gotten themselves into some hot water. There’s at least ten different c*ck-ups that Romney has fallen victim to but his worst to date had to be when he was secretly recorded saying that 47 per cent of the US population “don’t matter to him”. Basically, he’s only after the big fish. His running mate Paul Ryan recently visited a soup kitchen where he put on some rubber gloves, washed a dish, took some photos and then walked out the door. No one was happy about that either.
As for Obama, interviews on 60 Minutes and a forum hosted by the Spanish-language network Univision both went fairly poorly but thankfully Romney was stealing the c*ck-up lime light at that stage, so no one really took notice.
Right, okay. So who are the Vice President hopefuls?
Well, the Democrats have veteran politician Joe Biden on their side (he has some Irish roots if that’ll swing your vote) and he came in very handy at the first of the vice presidential debates where he dominated his Republican counterpart Paul Ryan. Biden continuously laughed and shrugged off Ryan’s comments and arguments in a somewhat condescending manner and he came across as the man in charge. He did a lot better than Obama did in the first debate against Romney, that’s for sure.
So who exactly won the first of the presidential debates?
Well, the general consensus was that Romney won the actual debate, but many believe that was Obama’s plan all along so that the Republicans would think they’d walk the Vice Presidential debate – which they certainly didn’t. Think of it as losing the battle but winning the war for Obama. On the night Obama seemed off key and he wasn’t as aggressive as he usually is. However, there are reports that he wasn’t feeling well the week before the debate so he might have just been having an off day. Romney ended up coming out of the debate with more support, which saw him edging close to Obama in the polls, but those extra followers have slowly faded back to what they were, pre-debate.
So who’s leading in the polls now?
Obama now has a clear 1-point lead over Romney (according to the Huffington Post) and seeing as these polls are graded to the nearest .00, it’s clear that Obama is still pretty much in control.
Anything we should look out for tonight?
Well after his sub-par performance in the first debate Obama is sure to be out for blood tonight, as will Romney after seeing his running partner Paul Ryan being shut down by Biden as if he were a bold child. So if you’re going to stay up to watch a presidential debate this year, make sure it’s this one.
Where can I see it?
TV3 at 2 in the morning. It goes on until 3.30am so make sure to stock up on Red Bull. And before you say anything, yes… we know the image above has been doctored.
