The Forecast: Moderate Gloom With Scattered Paranoia

Well, that was a bummer.

Over the past couple of months, I'd come to admire Mr. Romney immensely.  He ran an absolutely abysmal campaign up until October 1, and then suddenly got everything together.  He would have made a superb steward of the US executive branch.  Oh, well.

Now:  Did I call it, or what?

A boring presidential election is a ratings disaster.  It can't be allowed to happen.  So a Romney comeback is a financial imperative.

Furthermore, a Romney comeback is a damn good story.  Think of the drama as the Romney campaign reenergizes itself, retools its message, and claws its way back to within a whisker's breadth of its opponent.  It's the perfect third act.

It's also just the thing to show Obama at his pluckiest.  The beleaguered President, beset by a sea of troubles, slowly gains the upper hand over his rival against all odds, only to become complacent and have things almost slip away.  But at the last moment, he too rights his campaign, just in time to squeak out a win.

All is right with the world.  The media get the outcome they want, and their network executives get to take home their bonuses.

And now, for the paranoia:  If it weren't for Obama tanking the first debate, there would have been no drama to the race.  Obama would have coasted to at least a six point victory, and nobody would have watched the news for the crucial last month of the campaign.

So, if you were a media executive with access to the highest levels of the Obama campaign, and you could convince the President that the election was in the bag no matter what, do you think you could convince him to go limp for the first debate?

Nah.  Surely not. 

Right?