My prediction for this debate:
The President will be clear and a little wordy, but only so much as he needs to be to explain things in realistic terms. His critics will pan him for the same illusionary issues they always do, disregarding any common sense that he might apply in his answers in favor of pinpointing miniscule, entirely reasonable errors and inflating them into monumental "game-changers" ("That word... I do not think it means what you think it means...)".
His supporters will (of course) accept any missteps as practical ones. The President's campaign will continue on almost like normal, since they never planned to treat the debate as something that will overtly change their current strategy. Okay, a stump speech or two will probably have some editing to reflect some comments. Fair enough.
The Governor will make a valid point and a half before side scrambling into talking points and catchy phrases. He will inevitably drop one of the various "zingers" he has been working on using. If he does it more than once, at least one of those attempts will fall flat or blow up in his face.
Not that it matters much anyway. His critics will pan him as being evasive, which he will be because... well, with the campaign he's been running, he has no other alternative. Truth and reality have oddly become his enemies at this point, and I hardly see tonight as the time that he reins it in.
Meanwhile his supporters will celebrate his "aggressiveness", even if it isn't backed by any sort of logic or facts). Because in business terms, aggressiveness is celebrated over getting actual results. You're a Man/Woman of Action, and that's to be respected. (It's the reason why anyone has ever listened to Donald Trump about... well, anything. Because he acts like he knows what he's doing.)
The Governor's campaign will run around for the next week citing some sort of moral victory, despite the fact that said words or phrases or factology in no way denote anything either uplifting for the Governor or damning for the President.
At the end of the day... week? Nothing's really going to change. Even if the Governor gets a slight bump by pressing a few issues, those numbers will revert as soon as he starts running his mouth in public again. And even if they stick, he's still behind the curve that he needs to be ahead of at this point.
The President, however, is not really looking to change the game. So a wash is just fine in his book. He's unlikely to go for a "knockout punch" in fear of somehow making an exploitable misstep. So he'll cruise through the debate, then go on about his business as if it was just another Wednesday.
Having said all of that, that's just my take on it. Any given moment can shake up even the strongest prognosticator's plotting. So happy debating, everybody. For people who have no gumption for political rambling, have fun ducking and covering. I'll see you when the dust has settled again.
