Pundits on both sides of the aisle praised the presidential candidates for their performances in their first debate but appeared to give the higher marks to Mitt Romney.

In particular, they said, Romney appeared more energetic than President Obama, at least through the first half of the 90-minute debate.

Joe Trippi, a Fox News contributor and a former campaign manager for Democrat Howard Dean, suggested Obama gave the kind of underwhelming performance he has seen in previous debates.

“This is the guy who showed up,” Trippi said. “He didn’t enjoy it.”

Bill Gaston, a senior fellow at the liberal-leaning Brookings Institute think tank, said: “Romney did himself considerable good. ... I would not be surprised to learn that a majority of American people think he won it outright.”

Conservatives and Republican leaders were more emphatic. And so was the Twitter-verse, which appeared lopsidedly to favor Romney, even from within the so-called liberal media...