Sound Off: Weekly Recap

Here's the scoop on a couple items that got the Sachem community invested in our coverage. Click on the hyperlink to view the story again, and feel free to keep the comment chain going

Who Won the Second Presidential Debate?

On Tuesday night, President Barack Obama squared off with his Republican opponent Governor Mitt Romney in a town-hall style debate held at Hofstra University. The second debate was circled by Obama supporters as an opportunity to bounce back from a weak showing in the first debate. Supporters of Romney looked to Round Two as a chance to deliver the knockout blow.

We polled our audience across multiple Patch sites to find out who are readers would declare the winner. With more than 350 voters participating, the numbers looked a lot like the rest of the country. Fifty percent said Romney was the victor; 41% gave the debate to Obama, and 7% called it a draw.

Some comments from the Talk Back post:

From Jaguar-Guy: "Romney was powerful and steady and took the opportunity to reply to all Obama's lies. He was masterful and knew all subjects well, even the glass-ceiling question, where he replied that he had the most women in important positions in Mass. than any other state."

From Eric Bischoff: "That's funny because I completely saw and heard it differently. President Obama was Presidential and more factual. Mr Romney was acting like a bully and certainly didn't have facts on his side. Of course one would have to understand bully behavior to recognize it."

Talk Back: Questions for the Candidates?

Before the debate got underway, Sachem Patch put out a forum for readers who weren't part of the select few that got to read a question to either Romney or Obama. As is often the case, debates go long-winded and there's never enough time to answer a lot of questions, so we wanted to create an ideal world where you could ask the candidates anything.

Some of the responses we got back include:

From Mary Zampaglione-Milicia VIA FACEBOOK: "I really would like to know there stand on public school reform. This " race to the top" has got to stop!!! To many standardized tests!"

From Mary Piazza: "I'm a military mom. When will our troops be home? Enough with this overseas fighting. We need them here and safe."

From Gina Mastropolo-Lacarrubba VIA Facebook: "Will either candidate limit congressional benefits after they gave served in congress? Also Term limits? And limit their ability to vote themselves raises?"