The Romney campaign has done a terrific job of capitalizing on their candidate's strongest debate moments by quickly turning them around into television ads. Pundits and flash polls will argue over who emerged victorious from these televised clashes, but I think it's illustrative to note how each campaign has used the content of the debates. The Obama camp has mined the exchanges for such devastating gaffes as, er, "binders," while Team Romney has produced spots like this:
Obama's push-back to the "apology tour" critique was to say that Romney was a lying liar, and that he did no such thing. This compendium of clips assembled by the Young America's Foundation casts doubt on Obama's assertions:
An American president owning up to the blemishes and mistakes of our country is not offensive on its face. He was right: We haven't been perfect, and there is a time and place for humility. What galled so many of our countrymen, however, was Obama's decision to kick-start his administration with this tour -- which occasionally and self-servingly cast the United States as fundamentally flawed, while promoting Obama himself as the truth-telling, empathetic apologist who could make things right. "It's okay to like us again, because of me," was the implicit message. I'll leave you with CBS News' focus post-debate focus group in Ohio, which Romney won by a 3-to-1 margin:
UPDATE - Another debate-based spot from Boston: