Not even Republicans disputed that Obama's debate performance
was much improved from the listless showing two weeks earlier
that helped spark a rise in the polls for Romney. But the
first post-debate polls were divided, some saying Romney won,
others finding Obama did.
The two rivals meet one more time, next Monday in Florida.
Democrats rebutted Romney's memory of the binders he received
as the newly elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002.
On a conference call arranged by the Democratic National
Committee, a former executive director of the Massachusetts
Government Appointments Project said the group provided the
resumes of women qualified for appointment unprompted. "To be
perfectly clear, Mitt Romney did not request" them, said
Jesse Mermell.
Vice-President Joe Biden, campaigning in battleground
Colorado, mocked Romney on the same topic but in terms more
pungent than Obama's. "What I can't understand is how he's
gotten into this sort of 1950s time warp in terms of women,"
Biden said. "The idea he had to go and ask where a qualified
woman was. He just should have come to my house. He didn't
need a binder."
Romney quickly countered with a combination testimonial and
fundraising appeal from Kerry Healey, who was his lieutenant
governor in Massachusetts. She said he had named numerous
women to his administration, adding, "He sought out our
counsel, and he listened to our advice. We didn't always
agree, but we were always respected."
Obama wore a pink wristband to show support for Breast Cancer
Awareness Month as he campaigned in Iowa and then Ohio, and
reminded his audience that the first legislation he signed
after becoming president made it easier for women to take pay
grievances to court.
