Sean Janda: Live-blogging Denver

9:30: So now that we’re just wrapping up with the closing statements, I wanted to give my perspective on the debate as a whole. For whatever reason, the President seemed a little bit disengaged tonight–I got the feeling that he was reverting to his “lecturing professor” mode. On the other hand, Governor Romney has seemed particularly energetic and (believe it or not) empathetic. In spite of that, though, I’d grade the debate as closer to a draw (with a slight edge to Governor Romney). I’m not sure that there’s been a single line or moment that is going to have any real lasting impact on the campaign. At this point, if President Obama can get through a full debate on the economy without any major stumbles, that might just be a win.

9:28: Although I think that President Obama has been a bit off tonight (more on that in a minute), I do think he managed to take advantage of a pretty good opportunity to hit Governor Romney on his inability to maintain moderate positions throughout his campaign in spite of the far right.

9:23: Governor Romney: “The place you put your money is where your heart is.” Guess his heart’s in the Caymans.

9:13: Governor Romney claims that Obamacare “whisks away” the 10th Amendment. Chief Justice Roberts would disagree.

9:07: So, Governor Romney wants to keep the popular parts of Obamacare (e.g. coverage of preexisting conditions and allowing minors to stay on their parents’ plan until age 26), but he wants to get rid of the individual mandate, which is what actually pays  for those popular parts. I wonder if the President will hit him on that.

9:03: I do think Governor Romney’s defense of Romneycare/attack of Obamacare was pretty well thought out (as much as I may disagree with it). I think it’ll probably poll fairly well with independents, but I wonder what the far right is going to think.

9:00: Just like I think that Governor Romney hurt himself when he insisted on speaking time earlier, I think the President came across quite poorly while trying to get his full five seconds right then.

8:57: I think my favorite part of the debate so far is Paul Ryan’s running mate trying to hit the President on taking money out of Medicare…

8:54: Yes, Governor. Dodd-Frank is the reason that it’s extraordinarily hard to obtain a mortgage right now…

8:52: And Jim Lehrer asserts himself quite clearly (perhaps for the first time).

8:47: And now President Obama’s argument about how he would actually increase Medicare’s quality of service are resonating much, much better with women than with men

8:45: One interesting observation: according to CNN’s undecided voters, Governor Romney’s argument that the President is proposing Medicare cuts is resonating a bit better with men than with women.

8:39: The last ten minutes or so have been extraordinarily detail-intense without too much in the way of crisp soundbites or memorable hooks. At this point, I’d call the debate pretty much a draw…I don’t think either candidate has been able to really launch any last attacks or fantastic lines. (Of course, at this point, a draw on the economy might not be bad for the President.)

8:32: Governor Romney can talk about how the President should have grabbed Simpson-Bowles and ran with it all he wanted; unfortunately, Representative Ryan, his running mate, was one of the few members of the Simpson-Bowles Commission that voted against the recommendations.

8:29: Only minutes after talking about the pressing need for job growth, Governor Romney talks about how he’d eliminate federal jobs as part of his plan to cut the debt…

8:26: For what it’s worth, in my opinion (and apparently in the opinions of CNN’s undecided voters), trying to force in a final comment on this segment might have been Governor Romney’s biggest misstep so far. He came across as personally abrasive and then didn’t even get a good soundbite out of it…

8:22: St. Louis shoutout from the Governor!

8:19: President Obama goes back to President Clinton’s line from the DNC, “It’s math…it’s arithmetic,” while trying to describe the impossibility of Governor Romney’s statements on his tax plan.

8:14: President Obama starts his answer with, “Let’s talk about taxes, because I think it’s instructive.” One of the key weaknesses that the President has shown in past debates is a tendency to get a bit abstract and professorial. I’m not sure that opening line helps the President to shed that perception of the President as lecturer.

8:12: This answer doesn’t give me any idea what Governor Romney would actually do as President, but he’s definitely managing to sound articulate and compassionate  and it  seems to be resonating fairly well with the CNN  undecided voters.

8:08: Ahh, but small business did.

8:08:  The CNN Undecided voters tracking has been remarkably flat during Governor Romney’s opening statement so far. Not even China-bashing managed to get a huge rise there.

8:06: And it took about 40 seconds for President Obama to bring out his “30 months of job growth” statistic.

8:05: And, with a wonderful (and, I’m sure, sincere) hug between the Governor and the President, we’re off!

8:04: Apparently, the attendees of the debate have agreed to remain silent during the actual debate (no cheering, booing, hissing, applauding, etc.). We’ll see how long that manages to last.

8:01: While we’re waiting for the debate to get underway, I just wanted to comment quickly on the format. Unlike prior presidential debates, which were generally broken up into shorter question and answer (and rebuttal) segments, this debate is going to be broken up into six larger 15-minute chunks. Each chunk will have a theme (3 on the economy, 1 on health care, 1 on the role of government, and 1 on governing), and moderator Jim Lehrer will have pretty large latitude on guiding the conversation in each segment. Hopefully the larger time chunks will allow Governor Romney and President Obama to delve deeper into the actual policy questions and avoid quick soundbites!

7:41: Hey, everybody. I’m Sean Janda, and I’ll be live-blogging the debate with WUPR. Just to quickly introduce myself, I’m a junior at WashU from Philadelphia, studying political theory and economics, and I hope you enjoy!