Would it be smart for Obama to say that Romney won the debate?

[fishwax]

27. might that alienate undecideds who thought Obama won the debate or who thought it was a tie?

After all, according to the CBS poll, there were more in those two categories than in the "Romney won" column. Personally, I don't see why he should address the issue of who "won" the debate at all. (I would say that if he clearly won the debate as well.)

Rather, to the extent that he discusses the debate at all, he should focus on exploiting things Romney said that can help Obama in the polls. (Despite the apparent consensus among talking heads that Romney won, I think the Obama campaign will get more mileage out of the debate content in the long run.)

That's mostly the campaign's job, though, not Obama's. The candidate has no needs to join the debate over who won the debate. He should, instead, focus his energies on the debates that remain.