An hour into the debate…

Very little new ground has been broken. A few observations:

Moderator Jim Lehrer – voting is already underway in 34 states already

Obama – winding down two wars – not exactly! Wants to keep up to 25,000 US troops in Afghanistan for a decade after supposed end of war at the end of 2012

Economic patriotism – new phrase by Obama? no follow up on that

Obama – nod to bipartisanship re ideas for education reform

Obama  – wind/solar/biofuels energy investment

Obama  – Romney proposes 2 trillion in additional military spending Pentagon hasn’t asked for – Obama mentioned three times

Romney – middle income families being crushed – effective blows by Romney

Romney – not trying to reduce federal revenue? Really?

Middle class love a thon

Every program — test — is it worth borrowing money from China to pay for — good one! Romney

Romney – can’t have banks in garages – why not?

Romney – the cost of health care is too high – why we need single payer national health insurance like every other industrialized country!

Romney scoring points on obama’s focus on health care instead of jobs.

Hard to say how any of this is changing any likely voters’ minds.