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Beauprez Surprised By President's 'Befuddlement'

DENVER (CBS4) - Former Congressman Bob Beauprez came out of the presidential debate at the University of Denver surprised by what he saw as a lack of focus and preparation by the president.

Beauprez, a Republican, told CBS4 he thought Mitt Romney was well prepared for the debate and that President Barack Obama was clearly not so well prepared.

"He's supposed to be the master articulator, the master orator. He seemed distracted. He rambled," Beauprez said. "Debators always pivot, but he seemed to just be bouncing -- not just artfully pivoting subjects, but bouncing from here to there."

Beauprez said he was particularly struck by the president's "befuddlement as to what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it" in the closing statements of the debate.

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"That's something that you know is coming. You've gone through it in your mind. You think 'I've got 2 minutes, I'm going to do 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.' "

Beauprez said the fact that Obama had to be cut off by the moderator repeatedly was a sign that he performed poorly in the debate.

As for Romney, Beauprez said he thinks his performance "went a long way" towards convincing some undecided voters that he deserves their vote.

"Romney was worthy of being on the stage, could make his case, demonstrate the intelligence and articulate the message of a strategy to get us out of this rut we've been in now for more than four years," Beauprez said.

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