On Morning Joe today, New York’s John Heilemann categorized the president’s first debate performance as the stuff of political urban legend: “Barack Obama got eaten by an alligator that crawled out of the sewer.” He added that Tuesday’s debate has the potential to break the 67-million-viewership of the first round because the “spectacular failure” of the first debate sets the stage for the possibility of a dramatic comeuppance in the face of the “biggest challenge of [the President’s] political career” — it will be too much for viewers to pass up.
