Dear Mr. President

Well, our media seems to be getting a bit of the horse race they've wanted, as the polls have tightened some in the last week. And it probably is because of President Obama's lame performance in the Denver debates, as well as the media's pro-Romney reaction to it. Driving through Western Wisconsin this week, it seemed there was an uptick in Romney/Ryan bumper stickers and yard signs, although there are also plenty of Obama/Dem signs as well, and it certainly doesn't feel like 2010, when you were swamped with GOP signs in rural Wisconsin.

Since everyone likes to use lame sports analogies in politics, I might as well join in here for my take on what happened and where we are. Obama was up 17 points early in the 4th quarter before the debate happened. He dropped into prevent defense and let Romney walk right down the field in a 2-minute drive. Now it's a 10-point game and it feels like Romney is working on another drive to make this a 1-possession game. As we found out last Sunday in Indianapolis, bad things can happen when you put your foot off the gas with a lead.

Obama still leads, both in the U.S. and in Wisconsin, but it's time for the Blue team to make a play and fight some of this momentum off. A good 2 weeks will still put this thing away (GOPs can only get away with hate, constant lying and deflection for so long), but now it's going to take work instead of coasting in and maybe getting a landslide-style blowout.

I'm sure hoping it starts tonight, with the ol' vet Joe Biden teaching that little kid Paul Ryan a thing or two. Unlike 2008 vs. Caribou Barbie, Biden doesn't have to pull his punches to avoid looking like a bully, and this could be quite a bit of fun to see Ryan get his comeuppance once and for all.

And maybe it'll teach Obama a lesson- being a nice guy and assuming the average person will figure it out won't cut it. You'd think 3 1/2 years as president would have taught him that, but sometimes he still thinks elections are an academic debate, and they're not. If Obama likes his current job and wants to keep it, it'd serve him well to listen to this tune for the next 26 days.



Dear Mr. President, PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN!