Op-Ed: Did Obama really win the second debate?

Washington - President Obama and his supporters hoped that his performance in the second debate at Hofstra University in New York would stop the bleeding in the President's campaign.

However Thursday, two days after the aggressive freewheeling debate in which Romney once again focused on the economy, a Gallup poll shows Romney with a seven-point lead over the president 52% to 45% among likely voters. That poll includes one post-debate day in the seven-day rolling survey. While Rasmussen released a poll Friday showing Romney and Obama tied 48% to 48% among likely voters, Romney is up by a point over Obama in swing states. Another national poll, Real Clear Politics, shows Romney maintaining a lead of 0.7% over Obama, 47.6% to 46.9%. Romney's support grew in the last day of the poll while Obama's support edged down. Meanwhile, Romney has surged in Florida and Virginia, with most polls showing he now leads Obama. In Ohio, Romney is either even with the President, slightly ahead, or slightly behind him in most polls. Women and Independents are moving to Romney according to polls. In Florida, the Orlando Sentinel newspaper, guardian of Florida's politically potent "I-4 corridor" that runs from Tampa to Orlando, endorsed Mitt Romney Friday, just two days after Democrat Senator Bill Nelson was trounced by Representative Connie Mack in their only scheduled debate, according to polls. The Sentinel backed Obama in 2008. In effect, Obama is hunkering down behind a flammable firewall of Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, even as Romney surges in blue states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. If Obama loses the south, which polls indicate could be the case, his path to an Electoral College win becomes greatly cluttered. In addition, Obama is losing the support of Jews and Romney may win the popular vote according to an increasing number of national polls. More importantly, Obama must find a way to stop Romney’s momentum. If polls continue to reflect a shift in women, Hispanics and Independents toward Romney, the President will be in real political trouble for the first time.