Weekend Digest: Debating The Debate

For our weekend political readers:

THE PRESIDENT NOW MUST SHIFT TACTICS
After a disappointing performance in this past Wednesday’s debate, President Obama is shifting tactics to guard his narrow lead in the polls says Bloomberg.  And the shift was already in place the next day when he accused Republican challenger Mitt Romney of “hiding his true stances” during the debate.

“The man on stage last night, he does not want to be held accountable for the real Mitt Romney’s decisions and what he’s been saying for the last year,” Obama said at a rally in a Denver park. “And that’s because he knows full well that we don’t want what he’s been selling for the last year.”

Read the Bloomberg post for detailed analysis on what went right for Romney and where strategists think the President failed.

Democratic campaign consultant Tad Devine, who worked on the presidential campaigns of Al Gore and John Kerry, said Obama needs to be more aggressive in person, not just in ads.

“When Romney gives you an opening, you’ve got to take it,” he said.

So what else does the President have to do to “shift gears” and what are the new strategies he might employ?  Click here to find out.

REINVENTING ROMNEY
Politico goes inside the Romney campaign for a look at how the GOP Presidential nominee has been turning the ship of what many considered a sinking campaign.

Mitt Romney, for 90 short minutes Wednesday, transformed himself into a confident, clear-thinking champion of the average Joe. His ability to turn one winning performance into a winning campaign comes down to this: Sustain and complete the Romney Reinvention Project.

In the afterglow of the Denver duel, top campaign advisers said Thursday that the reinvention efforts will include forthcoming ads featuring clips from Romney’s much-praised debate performance, and the increased behind-the-scenes role of two close confidants — Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who played President Barack Obama in debate prep; and oldest son Tagg Romney, who has subtly taken a more active role in the selling of a more likeable version of his dad.

Read more of the behind-the-scenes action in this Politico exclusive.

DECADES OF TOP DEBATE MOMENTS
From Nixon/Kennedy in the 60’s to Gore/Bush in the new millennium, The Wall Street Journal has put together a video of presidential candidate’s “Top Debate Moments.”

Go to this link to view.

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF INTERNET VOTING?
Mashable says we can do anything now online — why not vote?  But is that truly a reality and if so how far off are we from casting our ballots electronically?

Surely, if engineers can figure out how to safeguard your medical records or transfer large sums of money over the Internet, beaming a vote from your living room should be a piece of cake. That’s a popular refrain among proponents of Internet voting systems, and on the surface, it makes sense. If security-obsessed industries like banking and medicine have embraced the Internet, why is voting still stuck in the relative dark ages? As with most things, the reality is a bit more complicated.

Go inside the entire Mashable post to find out what those complications are and what three key components would have to be put in place to make it work.

But even so, will it ever happen and why do some critics think not?  And… can you “actually trust an electronic record” of voting?  Trust that you can find the whole story by clicking here.