WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE? – AT 8:46 A.M. ET:  It was a thing of beauty, last night's debate.  The greatest blowout since Reagan destroyed Carter in 1980.  And, as one commentator said, Obama made Carter look awesome. 

I was reminded of the story of the composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, the day after their musical, "Oklahoma!" opened in 1943, to stunningly great reviews.   The two were scheduled to have lunch that next day.  Hammerstein had experienced a decade of flops before teaming with Rodgers.   Rodgers asked him whether he wanted to go to lunch in some quiet place, or go to Sardi's, the famous theater restaurant, and "show off."  An elated Hammerstein replied, "Let's show off."

It's a day for showing off.  Now we have a candidate!  It was the best night Romney ever had in politics.  I cannot deny a certain satisfaction in seeing the left-wing pundits stunned.  Their guy demonstrated what many of us have been saying for years:  There's no there there.  Obama came off as hesitant, uninformed, a man who understood less after four years in the White House than he'd understood when he ran in 2008.

It should be a great day on the campaign trail.  But let us keep the game face on.  This is only the start.  In 1984 the challenger Mondale defeated the incumbent Reagan in their first defeat, but Reagan went on to a landslide victory.  The Obama political team is expert.  And Obama is no slouch politically.  They know what went wrong, and they know how to fix it.  This race is far from won, and these boys won't hesitate to hit below the belt.  Obama will be better next time, but the one thing they can't change is the impression Romney made last night.  Doing a Reagan, he spoke directly to the American people, over the heads of the punditry, over the head of the hapless moderator, Jim Lehrer.  And, unlike the president, he came prepared.  He walked in as if he were already in the Oval Office.

Now the campaign resets.  It's day one.

October 4,  2012