2 Minutes With David Corn: The Foreign Policy Debate

On Monday night, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will face off on foreign policy. Some pundits say that the election is so close, the outcome could very well pivot on this debate, where the candidates will grapple over issues like the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. But according to Mother Jones Washington Bureau Chief David Corn, Obama’s strong advantage on foreign policy probably won’t move voters one way or the other: 

Here’s an excerpt:

As we get closer to the election there are a lot fewer undecided voters. So there’s less room to move [and] fewer people to persuade. This is now the third debate. In some ways you could see it as the rubber match. Mitt Romney did quite well in the first one, Barack Obama did better than Romney in the second one. But I don’t think people are looking at this like a play-off series, 2 out of 3 wins the day.  I think each candidate has given their supporters what they needed to give them in the first two debates, and [because] the third one is about foreign policy, supposedly exclusively, [it’s] going to be something that may not move a lot of voters who have yet to be moved.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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