Journalist Britt Hume had a good line about how good it felt for the challenger to defeat an incumbent president in their first October national debate.
"(He) flew into New York today, but the way he was feeling after last night's debate, he probably didn't need the plane."
Before you dismiss this as Fox News bias, consider this detail: Hume made the statement for ABC News, 28 years ago, and he was speaking about Democratic challenger Walter Mondale, who had just trounced President Ronald Reagan on October 7 of that year, pretty much with the same widespread acclaim that Mitt Romney garnered for his obvious victory over President Obama.
It may be a little early for the Republicans to celebrate. Two weeks after losing the debate to Mondale, Reagan turned the tables with his own debate triumph, best remembered for his classic response to questions about his age: "I refuse to make an issue of my opponent's youth and inexperience."
Interestingly, the age question was in part prompted by Reagan's apparent confusion in the first debate. Most important, Reagan went on to a landslide victory in November.
Assuming Obama recovers his footing and actually debates Romney in their next two encounters (rather than falling asleep in his talking points about what he did four years ago), the president has a decent chance of history repeating itself.