1. On CNN David Gergen flat out said that Romney lied. He criticized Obama for not calling Romney on it, but I do not think that matters. Having served in both D and R administrations, Gergewn's use of the L word legitimizes it, and i expect to see it in the continuing news coverage.
2. Big Bird - big mistake. Romney dissed Big Bird for a small amount of money. And now Big Bird is trending on twitter, with some new Twitter accounts set up to deal with it. I don't think Romney realized the weight Big Bird has with many vpoters.
3. I think the most telling takeaway from the snap polls appeared in a tweet from Mark Knoller of CBS about their poll. In my previous debate diary I kept repeating this:
Poll shows 69% say Pres Obama cares about their needs and problems - up from 53% before debate.
Understand this - you can think someone won a debate, even overwhelmingly, and still NOT be willing to vote for them. I think that is what Romney accomplished tonight.
He will have appealed to some alpha males, but at the price of turning off some more women.
He did not come across as likable, which was his real problem coming into the debate.
Again, this debate was not a game-changer in any sense I can imagine.