If you’re like me, you enter every single election a blank slate. I just never know which name I’m going to check the box next to in November until I carefully weigh each candidate by their statements, their values, and their integrity. As some very prominent Seattle thought leaders know, voting along party lines is a non-starter.

With that in mind: How about Governor Romney’s performance in the debate last night? As you know, I haven’t made any formal declarations of support for Governor Romney. That’s because I was waiting for the debates to make up my mind as to which candidate I was getting behind. And I haven’t decided yet (there are three more debates, remember) but I have to tell you, I liked what I saw in Governor Romney. He was forceful, funny, lively, and enthusiastic. Take a look at this video of him telling Jim Lehrer how to run the debate:

Now, that’s a man who knows how to lead!

All right, by his own campaign’s admission, some of Romney’s statements weren’t exactly, well, true. Okay, more than “some” of his statements weren’t strictly true. Let’s say, “several.” All right, “many.” But there was only one presidential-looking person on stage last night, and that definitely wasn’t the president.

This is not—repeat, NOT—an endorsement, but I very much liked what Romney had to say about education, about loosening the constrictive reigns on business, about returning to a pre-Obamacare health care system that merely needed a few tweaks to maintain its position as best in the world. President Obama seemed more interested in landing a couple of zingers than making a substantive case for another four years in office. (Maybe the lack of teleprompters on the stage had something to do with this?) I haven’t made any decisions yet, but Governor Romney sure did make a compelling case for himself last night. I’ll be keeping a close eye on him during the next two debates to see if he keeps it up.