Monday night's showdown in Boca Raton, Fla. was the least-tweeted presidential debate of this election.
The third and final face-off between U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, which focused on foreign policy, generated 6.5 million tweets -- less than New York's 7.2 million tweets and Denver's 10.3 million. The vice-presidential debate between incumbent Joe Biden and Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan clocked in at 3.5 million tweets.
Update: 6.5 million tweets tonight in the last of the 2012 #debates.— Twitter Government (@gov) October 23, 2012
In a Monday blog post, Twitter said the night's total number of tweets "remained strong."
Tweets-per-minute peaked at 105,767 when Obama delivered this zinger to Romney while debating the size of the U.S. military force: "We also have fewer horses and bayonets." Other moments that had Twitter buzzing, included moderator Bob Schieffer commenting, "I think we all love teachers" (102,339 TPM) and Romney accusing Obama of an "apology tour of going to various nations in the Middle East and criticizing America" (87,040).
Naturally, the "horses and bayonets" remark kicked GIF-makers into overdrive.
Google's search engine also shifted into high gear after Obama's zinger, with a "sharp spike" in Google Searches for "bayonets."
A sharp spike in @google Searches for bayonets during the #lynndebate: +7215% #googlepolitics— Google Politics (@googlepolitics) October 23, 2012
"Obama horses and bayonets" has leapt to the top rising related @google Search for @barackobama #googlepolitics— Google Politics (@googlepolitics) October 23, 2012
According to Twitter, the debate's hottest topics were foreign policy with 54% of the night's tweets sent, the economy with 20%, terrorism with 9%, taxes with 7% and energy and the environment with 4%.
What did you think of Monday's debate? Sound off in the comments below.