Consultants size up presidential debate

An aggressive Mitt Romney nosed out a "programmed" sounding President Barack Obama in a debate that had few surprises and verbal zingers, two political consultants said.

Manhattan-based Hank Sheinkopf, who helped lift Democrat Bill Clinton to the White House, and Bohemia-based Michael Dawidziak, who did the same for Republican George H.W. Bush, gave points to the Republican challenger for holding the stage next to a sitting president.

"Romney was supposed to humanize himself, sound smart, answer the questions and appear not to be a right-wing lunatic," said the founder of Sheinkopf Ltd. "He did exactly that and Obama was not prepared for it. The expectations were so low for Romney, he met them and he exceeded them. He came across as a decent guy who just happened to disagree with the president of the United States, which is not a crime." He thought Obama sounded too "programmed" and rehearsed."He [Romney] had Obama explaining and defending his record . . . instead of touting his great successes and how he kept the country out of a major depression," said Dawidziak, founder of Strategic Planning. "Obama's got a good story to tell and to a large degree, he didn't tell it."

Romney scored with his counterpoint on the federal deficit, Sheinkopf said. In that segment, the Republican promised to borrow from China only for critical programs and needled Obama for "picking the losers" in his green energy funding scandal.

The president tried to nail his opponent as the enemy of the working people and seniors, Sheinkopf said, a strategy that's worked in other arenas but barely put him over Romney during the deficit part of the debate.

"Obama is off his game," the consultant said.

Each candidate's points were no surprise, both political experts said. Obama painted himself as the populist, defender of the middle class and the vulnerable, while Romney promised to limit government, protect military spending, cut taxes and smoothed some fears about cutting needy seniors' Medicare services.

"The problem is we don't know what America is ready for yet," Sheinkopf said.

But the moments that political junkies look for -- the big gaffes, the one liners, the knock outs -- were notably missing.

"Where were the zingers?" Dawidziak said. "It kind of like a 12-round, lightweight championship fight. There weren't big punches but a lot of jabs."

One question is whether voters pick a president based on how he performed on debates or whether they want to have a beer with him.

"Likability is huge," Dawidziak said. He believes it's played a part in many past matchups -- for the two Bushes, Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter and for Clinton.

"They may very well pick the likable person. In the end, that might be the person they trust, that might be the person they say 'This is the person I want as my commander in chief.' "

On that count, both consultants said, Obama won the debate.