Spirited Vice Presidential Debate Tees Up Closing Issues For Obama, Romney
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The vice presidential candidates were back on the campaign trail Friday following there sometimes "rock 'em, sock 'em" debate on Thursday night.
In typical fashion both sides are claiming victory Friday, but the real question was what, if anything, does it mean looking forward for the presidential race?
Republican nominee Paul Ryan had breakfast with his family in Lexington, Ky., and had one comment about Thursday's debate.
"I feel great about it," Ryan said.
Ryan was to join presidential nominee Mitt Romney later on the campaign trail.
And while President Barack Obama was inside the White House on Friday, Vice President Joe Biden campaigned in Wisconsin, Ryan's home state.
"We have fundamentally different views for America," Biden said.
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The 69-year-old Biden and 42-year-old Ryan battled it out in a tense contest that sometimes became a free-for-all, like the following exchange on the Romney tax plan:
Ryan: "You can cut tax rates by 20 percent and still preserve these important preferences for middle-class taxpayers."
Biden: "Not mathematically possible."
Ryan: "It is mathematically possible. It's been done before. It's precisely what we're proposing."
Biden: "It has never been done before."
Ryan: "It's been done a couple of times, actually."
Biden: "It has never been done before."
Ryan: "Jack Kennedy lowered tax rates, increased growth. Ronald Reagan …"
Biden: "Oh, now you're Jack Kennedy?"
Who won? There were different views.
In a CBS News instant poll, 50 percent said Biden won, while 31 percent said Ryan won. CNN said it was 48-44 Ryan.
"I think it's very hard to make the case that any vice presidential debate has done a lot to move numbers," Baruch College professor David Birdsell told CBS 2's Dick Brennan on Friday.
Birdsell said both candidates did what they had to do, but added what was regarded as the poor performance of President Obama in the first debate, put greater pressure on Vice President Biden.
"It seemed that Joe Biden's performance stopped the bleeding and energized the base, but will it pull up President Obama's poll numbers? Maybe, but probably not," Birdsell said.
President Obama and Romney's next meeting will be a town hall-style at Hofstra University on Tuesday.
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