More than 65 million watched second presidential debate

Updated: October 17, 2012 - 11:18 PM

0
comments
resize text
print
buy reprints

Tweet
share

email
Email share

your name

your email

recipients email

+ add a comment add a comment

So much for political fatigue.

Television viewers appeared hungry to watch the second matchup between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, with an estimated 65.6 million people tuning in to watch Tuesday night's debate, according to Nielsen.

That was just a 2 percent dip from the 67.2 million who watched their first debate on Oct. 3.

The biggest drop-off was among television viewers ages 18 to 34, with 837,000 fewer tuning into the second debate, according to Nielsen. But the ratings do not take into account online streaming.

The third and final matchup between Obama and Romney is just around the corner. The candidates are scheduled to take the stage at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., on Monday in a foreign policy-focused debate moderated by CBS' Bob Schieffer.

TRIBUNE WASHINGTON BUREAU

WOMEN'S GROUP BEHIND BINDERS CHALLENGES ROMNEY'S ACCOUNT

The women's group that gave Mitt Romney binders of women's resumes contested his version of the story on Wednesday.

In response to a question about unequal pay for women at Tuesday's debate, Romney said that as governor, he sought to find qualified women to serve in his Cabinet and asked women's groups: "'Can you help us find folks,' and they brought us whole binders full of women."

The nonpartisan Massachusetts Government Appointments Project said Romney didn't request the binders. Instead, the group said it spearheaded the process and approached both Romney and his opponent to strive to appoint women to state leadership positions that was proportionate to the state population of women, about 52 percent.

By the middle of Romney's term in 2004, women made up 42 percent of new appointments to senior-level positions in government, the group said. But by the end of his term in 2006, that had dropped to 25 percent, the group said.

"Romney paid lip service to the public about hiring more women in senior positions and treated it like a quota," Jesse Mermell, a former executive director of MassGAP, said in a media call organized by the Obama campaign. "But like with so many other things with Mitt Romney, the facts didn't match the rhetoric. Facts are facts, and despite what Governor Romney claimed in the debate last night, there were fewer women in senior administration positions during his term than the governors who came before and after him."

Kerry Healey, who served as Romney's lieutenant governor, validated MassGAP's account, but said Romney still deserves the credit he claimed.

"In fact, of the 20 top positions in the Romney administration, 10 of them were filled by women, more than any other state in the nation," Healey wrote. "He wanted the best, male or female."

Obama has just eight women serving out of 23 Cabinet-level positions -- 35 percent.

MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU

SOME CONSERVATIVES CRITICIZE DEBATE MODERATOR

Candy Crowley has presided over many a partisan free-for-all on her CNN talk show, but the town hall debate was one of a kind. Most notably, during a discussion about the attack on the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, President Obama said he used the words "act of terror" one day later and Republican Mitt Romney contradicted him. Crowley fact-checked Romney and said Obama did say those words a day after the attack. She added that Romney was right to say that the administration initially characterized the attack as a reaction to an online video.

Some conservatives said that was inappropriate. And some critics pointed out that Romney spoke for three minutes fewer than Obama. Romney did, however, say nearly 500 more words than Obama. Crowley said that the producers told her through an earpiece that "the president's five minutes over Mitt Romney; you need to let Romney speak some more," and that as a result she did.

NEW YORK TIMES

get related content delivered to your inbox

manage my email subscriptions

0
comments
resize text
print
buy reprints

Tweet
share

email
Email share

your name

your email

recipients email

+ add a comment add a comment

Log In

Change Password

politics