Wall Street Journal: ‘Where Has This Romney Guy Been Hiding?’

Calling it “the best debate effort by a Republican nominee since Ronald Reagan in 1980,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board joined many in offering praise for Mitt Romney following his debate performance Wednesday night.

“These columns have often criticized the former Massachusetts Governor, but this was easily his finest performance as a candidate,” the editors wrote on Thursday.

Saying he had a mastery of detail and offered a confident and optimistic case for change, the editors added, “more than once, we caught ourselves saying, ‘Where has this Romney guy been hiding?’”

Still, the editors did find some fault with Romney in the area of deficit reduction: ”His one mistake was saying that a reform like his has never been tried before,” they wrote, “when he could have said Ronald Reagan did it with Democrats in 1986.”