Presidential Race: Scarsdale GOP, Dems Sound Off

From binders, to Big Bird, to Obamacare–folks across the country are still talking about the second presidential debate.

Many have called President Barack Obama the winner of Tuesday's match up, but Republicans are still happy with former MA Governor Mitt Romney's performance.

Here in Scarsdale, both parties are rallying around their candidates.

Scarsdale Republican Town Committee Chairman Steve Fuchs said the SRTC does "not actively get involved in national campaigns, but we encourage all local Republicans to participate on their own."

As an indivudal GOP member, Fuchs said there has been a lot of spin on this year's debates. 

Like us on Facebook  |  Follow us on Twitter  |  Sign up for our newsletter

"The first debate by consensus was a Governor Romney victory and the second had President Obama winning by a slight margin," he said. "There is much talk about the moderators and their involvement or lack there of. I have never seen such confrontation in debates in the many years I have watched. Personally, I favor a more civilized tone. President Obama was seen as disconnected in the first debate, but I believe he over-engaged in the second."

Despite all the debate dissection and media focus, "what matters most are the issues and where the country is on those issues and where we are going," the Scarsdale resident said.

He said that although President Obama "promised to grow the economy, create jobs, lower unemployment and reduce the deficit, Governor Romney pointed out that none of these promises have been kept."

"Governor Romney has a five-point plan to get the country growing again,"  Fuchs said. "President Obama is asking for four more years. My opinion is that if the Chief Executive's policies and plans are not succeeding, then we need to replace with him with Governor Romney."

Mark Lewis, vice-chair of the Westchester County Democratic Committee, and a Scarsdale resident, disagrees.

"I think Obama clearly came out the winner," Lewis said.

Romney is "playing both sides of the issue" when it comes to his stance on coal, taxes, gun control and women's issues.

On taxes, Romney needs to provide more details on how he will not raise taxes and balance the budget. "If you look at Romney’s cuts, the math doeesn’t add up," he said. "How do you make up the difference?"

On Romney's comments about pay equality for women, Lewis said he believes "women should be insulted by fact that he doesn’t want equal pay for equal work and I think that he’d lost some women there."

Obama has "cut taxes for small businesses, increased our exports," Lewis said. "We’ve created more manufacturing jobs in last year than we did under the entire Bush administration."

Weigh in. Did the debate sway your vote? Has the media swayed your vote? Share in the comments section.