You read that right. After months of leading Romney by double digits among women, his lead among female voters has effectively vanished, if you believe that poll.

Benenson savaged Gallup's methodology and dismissed the poll as an outlier. He's correct that no other survey has shown Romney performing that well among women.

But for Chicago's sake, he better be right. Along with his impenetrable lead among Hispanics and a near total hold on African-American voters, Obama has led Romney all year thanks to his robust support among women. If that disappears, so do the president's re-election hopes.

What does this mean for Tuesday night?

Women-specific issues -- topics like abortion, contraception, child care, education -- did not come up at length in the first Obama-Romney showdown.

They did in the vice presidential debate, however, and Romney running mate Paul Ryan scored poorly among women in debate-watching focus groups when he explained Romney's opposition to abortion rights.

If Obama hopes to lock in his lead among women, he must find a way to get issues like abortion and contraception in the spotlight in order to draw a sharp contrast with Romney.

4. Strong performance pays off -- literally

A strong debate showing doesn't just move numbers, it raises money.

Romney's energetic performance in Denver -- which voters judged as a clear win, polls showed -- accomplished something very important for the Republican nominee.

In short, his supporters now like him.

Before the debate, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll out Monday, fewer than half of Romney supporters said they were "very enthusiastic" about his candidacy. Today, the "very enthusiastic" number is up to 62% among likely voters.

That's crucial for Romney, who needs a fired-up base of supporters to show up on Election Day.

But the more immediate post-debate impact was financial: Romney raised more than $12 million online in the 48 hours after Denver, his campaign announced just a few days after the debate.

And if a campaign is rolling out fundraising data before the federal deadline for financial reports, you know they're feeling good.

On top of that, the campaign said it raised $27 million online from low-dollar contributors in the first two weeks of October.

That's good money for a campaign currently engaged in an all-out television ad blitz in key swing states.

Both campaigns are in the process of emptying their war chests for the final three-week push before Election Day. A burst of online donations means an extra TV ad here and a final volley of mail pieces there. In a race this right, every little bit counts.

5. Watch out for the wild card

The economy is still issue No. 1 for voters in this election. Foreign policy and national security have also crept into the discussion, with tensions in the Middle East slightly eroding Obama's edge over Romney on the commander-in-chief question.

But unlike in the previous two debates, when editorial control rested in the hands of the moderator, Monday's debate is a town-hall style forum, in which the audience, about 80 undecided voters from Nassau County, will be the ones generating questions for the candidates.

That means there's a real chance Obama and Romney will have to talk about something that might not have come up in their exhaustive debate prep sessions.

A question on affirmative action? Funding for AIDS-relief efforts overseas? Guns? NFL head-trauma? Is that Brody guy from "Homeland" really a terrorist?

Theoretically, anything is on the table. The moderator, Candy Crowley, and her team will have final say over the submitted questions.

But with regular people in the mix, there's always potential for a wild card that could throw one or both of the candidates off his game.