President Obama likes to say the odds of his getting reelected are better than they were to get elected in the first place with the name Barack Hussein Obama.

“This time we’ve got to grind it out,” he says, warning supporters that “this election will not be as sexy as the first one.” Or as lopsided, as no one thinks Obama can pull off another Electoral College landslide. With unemployment at 9 percent and no relief in sight for millions of jobless Americans, Obama looked likely this summer to join the ranks of one-termers as voters got angrier and key states redder.

But that outlook has begun to change, thanks in part to Obama’s feistier tone in confronting the opposition, but also to a string of debates showcasing the Republican field for 2012, not always to the party’s advantage. Pollster John Zogby, who is not affiliated with either party, calls the debates “disturbing, for lack of a better word.”