This election has now budged from an outright laugher to a (dimly) possible race.
We've been giggling ourselves silly over every piddling poll, but now Romney, with the best appearance of his otherwise inept political career, may have halted and even reversed his campaign-long failmentum.
Whether the polls shift or not, this is the wake-up call we all need to get serious about this election, get real about the stakes, and kick our asses into high gear.
In this sense, Mitt's smug, smirky, rude and aggressive salestalk has done us a serious favor. As wake-up calls go, this momentary setback - a slightly sharper-tongued Mitt and a slightly distracted Obama - is actually a plus for an Obama campaign (by which I mean us) that was showing signs of complacency and premature celebration.
Our candidate is a better man in every respect, and we should never let anyone lose sight of that simple fact.
Mitt's done us a real service by reviving his pathetic campaign and starting to mimic an actual candidate with an actual chance. Let's treat him like the serious candidate he yearns to be and crush him with everything we've got.