Yes, there are still three debates on the horizon. Also, I’m fully aware that a month and change is a political eternity where anything can happen. That said, as much as people think that a stellar debate performance could be a game changer for Mitt Romney – the stench of losing that has hung over the Romney campaign these past few weeks could be so malodorous come debate time, the President could burst into tears or spontaneously combust on stage and it may not even matter. Besides the fact that debates “almost never change the trajectory of a race“, according to Paul Waldman, I’m just of the firm belief that Americans simply like a winner. For example: When the Supreme Court upheld the Individual Mandate in the Affordable Care Act back in June, the public didn’t give a shit about the court calling it a “tax” and not a “penalty“. All the American public saw was the President marking one in the win column. Plain and simple.

Pretty soon the stench of losing will follow Mitt Romney around the same way that dirt and dust filled cloud engulfed the Peanuts character “Pigpen“, due to his campaign’s serial incompetence. The polls shifting in the President’s favor. The conservative hand-wringing. Campaign finger-pointing. Narrative affirming videos. Wildly throwing shit against the wall, hoping that something sticks. This is what losing looks like folks, and America hates a loser. If this continues much further, the question won’t be whether a stellar debate performance can turn things around for Mitt Romney – but how much of a route this election be for the President. I mean, it’s getting to the point that anything short of the President endorsing Mitt Romney won’t right that particular ship.