Progress Report: Horses and Bayonets for the Win; Profiles in Candidacy; Alexion Gets Tax Break, Amount Unknown

Good news, Democrats … Obama easily won the rubber match debate last night. And as a bonus, the president’s foreign policy poise coupled with Romney’s obvious lack of similar acumen will likely become a talking point for liberals and conservatives alike during the final 14 days.

“Obama succeeded because he conveyed his unique view of the world from the Oval Office,” according to Taegan Goddard of PoliticalWire. “For undecided voters watching, all they probably heard was that he’s the commander-in-chief. And that’s what Team Obama wanted.”

Goddard calls it “President Obama’s best moment in the campaign so far” and I think that’s a fair assessment.

Both the Huffington Post and the Drudge Report lead with stand alone Obama shots this morning. HuffPo headline: “Chief in Command” Drudge headline: “Grand Finale”

In an unnecessary attempt at balance, here was the best Politico’s lead piece could offer as far as positives about Romney’s performance: “But many Republicans – and some neutral commentators – believe Romney held his own in a difficult format. His aides think he passed the acceptability test and that Obama didn’t disqualify him (and Republicans desperate for a win were sighing deeply that Romney didn’t have any gaffes).”

The New York Times eviscerates Romney’s performance and campaign in an editorial this morning. And instant polls largely agreed that Obama won hands down.

But watch this video clip of Obama’s instant classic about horses and bayonets to see for yourself:

Speaking of debates, we get to see Senator Sheldon Whitehouse finally square off against his conservative carpetbagging challenger Barry Hinckley. I’m really looking forward to this debate as it pits a real progressive vision for the future against the ideas of Wall Street and the 1 percent.

Speaking of Wall Street …. the Journal’s Mike Riley profile falls a little flat, I’m sorry to say …. the candidate goes unquestioned in saying his experience as a Wall Street hedge fund manager makes him uniquely qualified to address the nation’s economic woes. Actually, it makes him uniquely unqualified to fix the economy. Electing a hedge fund manager to fix the economy would be like employing an arsonist to fight a fire!

That said, we’re even more disappointed with the profile of Abel Collins – his platform and biography are every bit as relevant to Rhode Islanders as is Riley’s, if not more so. (We also appreciate the ProJo mentioning RI Future in the piece!) While this website might endorse Langevin, we think it is very important that Rhode Islanders understand Collins’ politics. I’m pretty sure a plurality would largely agree with his philosophies.

This is great writing by Andy Smith on a story we covered yesterday: “The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation on Monday unanimously approved a state tax incentive for Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. that would reduce its corporate tax rate from 9 percent to 6.75 percent. How much the tax break will cost the state is still unknown.”

While we think it’s ridiculous that the ProJo invests so much effort reporting on the youthful indiscretions of the governor’s son, we fully stand behind the newspaper in its lawsuit against the State Police for records the police refuse to make public.

Notice in the four above pieces, the disparity in emotions the ProJo has riled in me already this morning! Now that’s a great newspaper! Us Rhode Islanders who love the ProJo should be demanding that Belo not cut any more resources from the single most important force in our local marketplace of ideas.

File this one under stuff only reporters care about: WPRO says Jim Hummel broke the PEDP story but this timeline indicates Dan McGowan was the first to report on the story.