Nobody's ever been as tough on Obama in person as Romney was in the first debate. He surged to a 5-point lead in the polls right after that, polls we now know were probably accurate all along. All he had to do was keep that up. Instead he ended the campaign whining about Obama attacking him, saying bland patriotic platitudes, and reciting a litany of economic statistics that went in one ear and out the other of the average dumbass voter.
For the sake of the families of the 4 murdered Americans, and for my own gratification, I wanted to see Romney hit Zero hard.
However it was clear Obama had a media set-up ready to go on that in both the 2nd and 3rd debates.
In the 3rd debate, if Romney had taken the bait (did you notice that Obama tried to draw him into a discussion of Benghazi -- twice?), Obama would've hit him with some pre-cooked, poll-tested zinger.
This would then have been reported as "another Romney gaffe" in the next day's headlines.