So, when the media says this is unprecedented, they're absolutely wrong.
On the day of the first presidential debate in 2004, Bush led Kerry by six points nationally. A week after the debate, Bush's lead had disappeared and he was in a near-statistical tie with Kerry ... leading by only .8%. He lost a total of 5.2 points in a near-week's span.
Now while this number could change based on tomorrow's results, currently, Obama is .7% behind Romney. He led by 3.1 on the day of the debate. That's a loss of 3.8 points.
The difference, of course, is that Bush had a larger lead than Obama ... so, he was able to stay above water. However, the polls shifted and Bush's lead bumped back up to 4 points. The panic was almost the same from the right ... that Kerry got his game-changer. But when the bounce ended, Bush was back on top.
The point? We've seen this before.