KRAUTHAMMER: Clinton failed to issue Trump knockout punch to 'stop his momentum'
Conservative pundit Charles Krauthammer said Monday that he thought Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump performed about evenly at the first presidential debate.
The nationally syndicated columnist argued, however, that the "draw" benefited the challenger candidate, Trump.
"The very fact that he could go 90 minutes on the same stage automatically elevates the challenger," Krauthammer said on Fox News.
Krauthammer said that while Clinton put Trump on the defensive for much of the night and made him "go down rabbit holes," the Democratic nominee did not issue a knockout punch.
"If you had to say, 'Does it have an impact?' Probably not. But if anything, it would at least not stop his momentum," the conservative pundit said of the debate.
A CNN/ORC instant poll found that Clinton won the debate by a margin of 67% to 27%.
The instant poll appeared to line up with what two focus groups also found. Both focus groups, one run by CNN and the other organized by GOP pollster Frank Luntz, concluded Clinton was the clear winner of the debate.