Campaigning in the past vs. the momentum of the present

Over the weekend, Michael Barone and Byron York gave some interesting perspectives on how the campaign is really going, in terms of the energy defined by the two debates thus far. While Obama and Biden are running in the weeds through past liberal narratives and rehashed attacks, Romney and Ryan have vaulted to the forefront of what matters in the present...and the outpour of support reflects it.

First, Barone says Obama and Biden are running a campaign fit for the '70's or '80's...

Barone: When a politician is in trouble, he usually falls back on what he knows best -- the world he saw around him when he entered into political awareness as a young adult.

That's what seems to have happened to the Democratic ticket after Barack Obama's disastrous performance in the Denver debate Oct. 3.

So Obama on the campaign trail and Joe Biden in the vice presidential debate fell back on what they know from their formative political years.

Obama and Biden, who've written off the white working class, while losing ground with women, as well as some from both the youth & senior citizen vote, attempt to constantly deride with Big Bird and divide us with other nonsense from past fights, basically adopting the politics of anything goes. Barone says these tactics aren't working & people aren't falling for it anymore, whether that be what clearly appears to be a run-of-the-mill cover-up in Benghazi or the supposed 'guarantee' of what most understand to be unsustainable entitlements. And it's showing in the debates...

In the two debates, voters saw a near-comatose Obama and a near-manic Biden -- and two sober, well-informed Republicans. That's not a good contrast for Democrats.

Meanwhile, York discusses the sudden shift and momentum of the Romney ticket after the debates...recognizing and affirming what we've suspected all along...

York: Just two weeks ago, Republicans here in Ohio, even in GOP stronghold Warren County, were filled with anxiety and doubt. Poll after poll showed President Obama widening his lead over Mitt Romney in this crucial battleground state. Republicans didn't know whether to believe the polls -- many didn't -- or admit their man was faltering in a nearly must-win state. Either way, it was a frustrating situation.

No longer. In the wake of Romney's decisive victory over Obama in the first presidential debate October 3, the campaign's trajectory here in Ohio is up, up, up. Not just in the polls...but also in Republicans' everyday lives as they talk to friends and, in some cases, volunteer for the campaign.

For now, the most important development in the presidential campaign is that Romney has managed to get his own campaign...moving forward with an energy and focus it didn't have before.

So tonight's debate, while determining the further momentum of the Republican challenger, might just signify direr consequences for the Democratic incumbent.

That would of course be a very good thing.