12:25 pm ET

The consensus result of the highly unscientific survey I did of various sharpies after Mitt Romney’s speech at the Bill Clinton confab: better, more genuine performance than usual; funny opening joke (referencing 42); presidential demeanor; and/but still a bit stiff; failure to drive a newsy message, and not good enough to win with.

Continuing my inability to escape talking to people who think the election is (all but) over — the Sheraton hallways are filled with folks deeply skeptical that a Romney comeback is possible.