Second debate breaks out in spin room over who won

Mitt Romney won the debate. No, Rick Perry was the clear victor.

Guess again, offered R.C. Hammond, spokesman for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a few minutes after the debate ended Wednesday night.

"My guy won of course," he said with a smile.

They don't call it the spin room for nothing. The spinning, in an auditorium adjacent to the debate hall, started the moment the cameras went dark.

Clusters of managers and handlers filed in, all accompanied by a volunteer carrying a placard identifying the speaker and his or her candidate.

The Romney representatives were swarmed by boom microphones, cameras and journalists dressed up in suit coats and ties. Same with the Perry camp.

Hammond stood in front of two, maybe three reporters. Ron Paul and Herman Cain didn't draw much more. Doesn't mean a thing, Hammond said.

They spun in a room bordered with pictures of former presidents and red, white and blue banners. Blue carpet was covered with podiums and booths, all assigned to different media outlets, from CNN and ABC to Fiji TV and the Comedy Network's "The Daily Show."

This is where the media world goes when they want to hear someone explain how what they just saw happen really didn't, at least not in that way, not in that context.

"The reason people came after Governor Romney tonight is Governor Romney is the candidate who can turn the economy around," said Lanhee Chen, policy director for the former governor of Massachusetts, responding to attacks the candidate took for jobs and healthcare.

The spin room is for more than promotion. The Romney camp jumped on Gov. Perry's characterization of Social Security as a Ponzi scheme.

That position, said Chen, makes him unelectable.

The Perry people said the reason the candidates targeted the Texas governor for criticism on a long list of subjects is because he's the frontrunner.

"I think Gov. Perry comes out of the debate stronger than he came in," said Dean Cannon, speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and one of Perry's spinners.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was the first candidate who rolled into the spin room after the debate, taking the opportunity to question the political track records of Romney and Perry. Most of the other candidates left the evaluating to their handlers.

Among the topics was the percentage of questions aimed at Romney and Perry, compared to the others.

"You have to remember it's a TV show," said Ed Rollins, spinning for Rep. Michele Bachmann, suggesting a one-on-one match is seen as better television.

Another complaint was that the moderators encouraged the candidates to attack each other.

"I think if the sponsors had it their way, they would turn it into the WWE," said Hammond, referring to the professional wrestling league.

The qualifying and re-characterizing covered pretty much everything, even the spinning. Which, as it turns out, isn't quite the right word.

"I think spin room is a more of a term the media uses," said Cannon.

It's no so much spin as a way to continue the debate's conversation, offered Hammond, a way to add a layer of personality to the debate.

Then he was asked who needs the spinning more: The politicians or the press.

The media, he said, citing the need to pump out as much news as possible in every 24-hour cycle.

"You need as many authoritative sources as you can come across," he said.