CHICAGO (CBS) – Outside, on the Clark Street side of City Hall on Tuesday, a voter I met asked me about the presidential debate Monday night, which was watched by more than 50 million people.

Did I like it? Do I understand what the candidates now say? And what about the spinners, who tell us we think we understand what Romney and Obama say, but we don’t – that what we think they say is not what they mean.

Well excuse me, spinners, but what they say often is not what they mean. I hear what they say, and hear them insist it’s not what they mean. Hear it all the time in the debates and the billion dollars they’re spending to get elected.

I’ve been hearing it now for months; the candidates for president trying to convince us what they say is not what they mean; the way they carry on – yes, yes, no, no, maybe.

Half the time, I don’t know what they mean. Problem is, half the time, they don’t know what they mean.