Kathleen Parker: With Mitt Romney's crushing debate victory, it's now 'game on'

Friday's jobs report, putting unemployment below 8 percent for the first time since Obama was inaugurated, no doubt put some spring back in his step and may have stolen some of Romney's fire. But what is clear is the game is by no measure over.

Before the debate Wednesday, Americans by 2-1 believed that Obama would secure a second term. Yet the fact that 67.2 million people tuned in to the debate suggests a higher level of interest than a fait accompli would indicate. According to Nielsen, the TV ratings company, Obama vs. Romney viewership was up 28 percent from the first presidential debate four years ago. The largest audience in 2008 came with the second debate at 63.2 million viewers.

At this point, with the new jobs numbers following on the impressions of the first debate, as Schmuhl puts it, "reality and mediality converge."

Which is to say, anything could happen and all bets are off. Game on.

Kathleen Parker's email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.