Tonight’s Vice-Presidential debate pitting Incumbent Vice-President Joe Biden versus Congressman Paul Ryan meant many things to me. Morale for the democratic base was shaky after the debate between Governor Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama went from insignificant as the pundits originally pitched it to a catastrophe post-debate. The media has been circling around the President like a vulture since the first Presidential debate.

The biggest foul of the first debate was that Mitt Romney escaped his own platform and continuously lied about his policy and plans for the American public, should he be elected. Mitt Romney realized his real positions would never win him the voters so he shifted his position temporarily to try and sway voters. One of the most shocking things mentioned by Mr. Romney was that after repealing Obamacare, he would keep pre-existing conditions on his policy (which Romney’s own campaign ruled false just minutes after the debate ended). Unfortunately, neither President Obama nor the moderator took Mitt Romney to task.

Luckily, this debate played out different. Joe Biden entered the debate with all stakes on the table. The fight for the White House has for the first time this election season become a horse race. Obama’s giant advantages over Romney were quickly fading in national polls and if Biden didn’t debate well, Obama’s lead in swing states, which will decide the victor in this election, could fall as well.

Biden took Paul Ryan to task on every lie. When Paul Ryan attempted to blame Benghazi and Libya on the Obama administration, Biden came back that the House GOP, whose budget was penned by Ryan, has slashed funds for our foreign personnel in both 2011 and this year in 2012, despite the President’s requests to raise security.

When discussing Afghanistan (the moderator was smart and said “Why not leave Afghanistan today?”), Joe Biden made an excellent point that it is time for the American people to leave and for the “Afghans to take care of their own security”. Most voters feel it is time for us to focus on jobs and stop worrying about wars abroad. Although Paul Ryan said he also wishes to leave Afghanistan, he would not commit to a timetable in a war that has gone on for over a decade. The choice is simple: Do Americans want to stay in war or do they want the troops to come home and focus back on growing our own country? New York Times took a poll in March of 2012 and found 69% of Americans want to pull out of Afghanistan.

Joe Biden called Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan out on the 47% comment that for weeks plagued Mitt Romney’s campaign – the video where Mitt Romney calls half the electorate “entitled” and says the electorate “should take responsibility for their lives”. Joe Biden called Paul Ryan out on his voucher system which will ruin senior citizens Medicare.

Paul Ryan was frequently cornered by Joe Biden and the moderator to explain his policies to the American people, but Paul Ryan tried his best to paint things positive and not explain how he would find the funds to make 5-trillion dollars in tax cuts and to maintain cuts on the wealthy – choosing not to explain that the majority of the cuts will come to programs that support the middle class. Paul Ryan tried to attack the Obama stimulus, a plan which he himself has requested funds from. Joe Biden did not let him slide away, not once.

Finally, Paul Ryan’s biggest liability, abortion, came to the forefront at the end of the debate and Joe Biden made success in talking to women voters (which were not discussed in the first debate) and Joe Biden’s best point was made that he will not impose his beliefs on his fellow Americans like Romney-Ryan would if elected. As a nation that has Freedom of Religion as an amendment to our Constitution, I think that discussion brought home the point to many American viewers and female voters who still overwhelmingly support President Obama.

This debate was a good one. Not just because Joe Biden corrected Paul Ryan’s lies and attempts to paint a false picture of his and Governor Romney’s campaign, but because the moderator, Martha Raddatz, would not allow the candidates to get off-topic or avoid tough and specific questions she threw their way. Martha did the American people a favor and kept the information flowing instead of allowing the debate to become a fist-fight. The debate was a sharp contrast to last week’s debate, which was ultimately moderated by Mitt Romney when he pretty much discussed whatever he felt like and frequently pounced over the moderator and President Obama. Last week’s debate made no sense to the viewers and was evidenced by the emergence of Big Bird as the only post-debate talking point.

In the spin room after the debate, the GOP called Joe Biden immature and complained about him laughing at Paul Ryan and interrupting him, yet this hypocrisy does not look at the fact that Mitt Romney was very rude to the President of the United States of America and the American public when he lied about his platform on a nationally televised debate last week. Furthermore, the GOP went on to state that the moderator was biased because she knows Barack Obama personally, yet she pressed both debate participants and even put Biden in tough questions throughout the debate.

The obvious winner of the debate was Joe Biden. Now it is up to President Obama to carry that momentum and drive against Mitt Romney next Tuesday.

Full debate transcript: http://nyti.ms/R2YLLg