A Recap of the Second Debate

Last night's second presidential debate was decidedly more exciting than the first, and although political pundits will slice and dice the evening on a minute-by-minute level, here's Flyby's recap of last night's showdown.

Biggest difference between this debate and the first one: No, it wasn't the town hall format. The first debate had virtual no shows from President Obama and moderator Jim Lehrer. This time around, however, Obama aggressively went after opponent Mitt Romney, while moderator Candy Crowley was quick to cut off long-winded answers and at one point even acted as fact-checker.

Some buzz words: Middle class (30 mentions); China (21); deficit (18); education (14); tax cut (8); assault weapons (7); Planned Parenthood (4).

The use of the phrase "Not true": Obama, 9. Romney, 0.

Poor Lorraine Osario: Romney mispronounced her name. Then, a couple minutes later, so did Obama.

Bigger isn't always better: According to Romney, "[The Republican] party has been focused on big business too long…everything I'll do is designed to help small businesses." At another point in the evening, Romney asked Obama if he ever looked at his pension, to which the president responded, "You know, I don't look at my pension. It's not as big as yours, so it doesn't take long." Focusing on the smaller things in life?

Most politically confounding moment: In response to a question asking Romney to differentiate himself from former President George W. Bush, Romney strongly disavowed the Bush's policies on energy, trade, the budget, and small business. A few minutes later, Obama's answer ended up showing some support for Bush's policies on health care, immigration reform, and Planned Parenthood. Too bad no one thought to play Adele's "Turning Tables."

Most sound byte-able: "They brought us whole binders full of women." –Romney

"If we're going to go after folks who are here illegally, we should...go after folks who are criminals, gang bangers." -Obama

Honorable mention: The most infamous percentage of the election (the 47 percent) got a nod from Obama, and so did (you guessed it) Romney's favorite feathered friend over at PBS, Big Bird. Unfortunately, no mention of Elmo.