CBS poll of uncomitted voters: Obama won debate

CBS News polled uncommitted voters they found that Barack Obama won the third and final presidential debate 53% while 22% found that John McCain won the debate.

Third & final presidential debate: intial impressions

Barack Obama & John McCain square off in the third presidential debate

Here are our initial impressions from the third and final presidential debate:

• “Joe the Plumber” will be the most sought after plumber in the world tomorrow.
• McCain has come out stronger than he did in the first two debates and looks like he knows his campaign depends on hitting a home run in this debate.
• During Senator Obama’s answers, McCain continued his debate smirks and his body language projected condescension. Audible sighs (or laughs) also did not help.
• McCain attacked Obama for not visiting Colombia when Sarah Palin took a lot of heat for getting her passport only last year!?
• McCain’s answer that Obama brought the attacks on himself for not doing the town halls just doesn’t hold water.
• Obama’s response to McCain’s justification for negative ads and the negative tone of the campaign, was brilliant for pivoting to the issues that voters truly care about.
• Liberal blogs and MSNBC will have fun with McCain’s accidentally calling Obama “Senator Government.”
• McCain denied Obama’s claim that his ads were 100% negative. As it turns out, Obama was right: 100% of McCain’s ads have been negative.
• Obama struck some tones that resonate with family values voters when he called sexuality sacred and talked about turning off the television and video games.
• This was McCain’s strongest debate, but Obama remained calm and cool under pressure. The polls will tighten, but the Obama campaign should be happy with Obama’s performance in this debate.
• This was easily the most personal debate and contentious of the debates.

McCain & Obama to debate for third & final time tonight

John McCain & Barack Obama will debate for the third and final time tonight and then it is 19 days until the election

McCain kills battle of low expectations for last debate

John McCain has just raised the bar for his performance at Wednesday night’s third and final presidential debate. Said McCain: “We’re going to spend a lot of time and after I whip his you-know-what in this debate, we’re going to be going out 2-4/7.”

Video: second presidential debate

Second presidential debate: initial impressions

Barack Obama and John McCain participate in the second presidential debate

Here are our initial impressions on the second presidential debate:

• Senator McCain’s strength has always been the town hall format, but he did not look like he was on his A game.
• On the question about national sacrifice, McCain tanked and Obama did very well.
• Obama had a very strong line with “We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al Qaeda.”
• Both candidates are not directly answering the questions asked by members of the audience. They are instead pivoting and delivering small sections of their stump speeches.
• Obama repeatedly attacked McCain throughout the debate, but in a subtle and indirect way. He referred to McCain being in Washington for 26 years and the “Straight Talk Express” having “lost a wheel.”
• Tom Brokaw was not happy with the debate format, nor was he happy with Obama and McCain for consistently going over their time limits.
• McCain came off as grumpy and somewhat nasty, at one point he even referred to Obama as “that one.”
• Senator Obama used more heartland-oriented terms that seem to be aimed at showing voters that he is “one of them” (something the McCain campaign is implying he is not).
• On a health care question, Obama’s referencing his mother’s death and her spending her final days fighting her insurance company was a very strong answer.
• The foreign policy section got testy and Senator Obama seemed very confident, while Senator McCain seemed like he was on the defensive.
• This was not a town hall debate, the audience was not involved to the extent they would be in a true town hall.

Debate video: McCain refers to Obama as “that one”

The question McCain hopes to be asked in tonight’s debate

In keeping with John McCain’s new campaign strategy of changing the topic of the campaign from the economy to Barack Obama’s character and associations, we thought about which question Senator McCain would most want to be asked in tonight’s town hall debate. We also came up with a devastating answer

Q: Senator McCain, which belief of Senator Obama’s do you agree with most?

A: Well, that’s a tough question because he has no real record. All I know about him is that as soon as he got to the Senate, he started running for president, not working for you, the American people.

A question and answer of this type would be one that McCain would most likely hit out of the park and put Senator Obama on the defensive. It would be replayed on news programs for several news cycles and be discussed by representatives from both campaigns. This question and answer could steal the show.

VP debate wrap-up

Senator Joe Biden debates Governor Sarah Palin the the vice presidential debate

Thursday’s vice presidential debate was much like the first presidential debate: neither candidate did anything to hurt themselves or their campaigns. Like Senator Obama, Senator Biden stuck to substance, offering specifics on what policies an Obama Biden administration would pursue and he looked vice presidential (he also looked like he was more than capable of assuming the presidency if needed).

Governor Palin’s performance was based more on style than substance. She did not answer questions unless it suited her, used phrases designed to say “I am in touch with what is going on,” attacked Senator Obama’s record and did not outline any meaningful policies that a McCain Palin administration would enact. Her entire performance came off as quite scripted and many lines seemed to be designed for being replayed as a soundbite. However, Palin did not come off like she had in her interviews with CBS News’ Katie Couric and ABC News’ Charles Gibson; where she looked to be out of her league. Many had been expecting Palin to destroy McCain’s presidential campaign by repeating her performance from those interviews, but she did not and did no damage to McCain at all. In fact, Palin silenced her critics within the Republican Party with her debate performance.

At the end of the day, this debate, which was the second most watched debate in history with just under 70 million viewers, will have no major impact on the presidential campaign. “Low information voters” are more likely to be swayed by the state of the economy than what Joe Biden and Sarah Palin said during the debate.

Video: the VP debate

VP debate: first impressions

Here are our first impressions of the vice presidential debate:

• Palin came out of the gate very strong, but trailed off halfway through
• Biden started off very weak, but was very strong when Palin trailed off
• Palin lacked substance and was all flash, while Biden was substance and lacked flash
• This debate will not have an impact longer than three days
• Palin’s strategy was to attack relentlessly and repeatedly, even when Biden refuted the attack with fact she continued the lines of attack again and again
• Palin certainly has silenced her critics in the Republican Party
• Palin did have a slight gaffe when she said of the economic crisis: “it’s a toxic mess on main street that is affecting Wall Street.”
• Biden was put in a jam by Palin toward the end when she talked about being a mother, lacking health insurance, etc. He came back hard and probably did well with women when he choked up talking about the death of his wife and daughter, and having to raise his two sons as a single father

Livestream of the VP debate

You can watch it here.

Five questions Biden & Palin should be asked in the debate

We have come up with a list of five questions that Gwen Ifill should ask Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.

For Senator Biden:

1. Senator Obama has stated that his administration would be about changing Washington and the way it works. How would you be able to help him do that, especially since you have been in Washington for nearly 36 years?
2. You have the reputation of being quite opinionated and putting your foot in your mouth. Are you capable of serving as vice president without being a distraction or even behaving in a detrimental manner to an Obama administration?
3. What type of role will you play as vice president? Will your vice presidency be in the mold of Dick Cheney or Harry Truman?
4. At what instance would you advise a President Obama to go to war? Authorize the use of nuclear weapons?
5. What part of Senator Obama’s platform do you disagree with most?

For Governor Palin:

1. Your husband Todd has been reported to have been intricately involved and even represented your office in meetings. He is neither an elected official or staffer. Would you permit him to sit in on or represent you at meetings if you were vice president or president?
2. You are currently under investigation for the possible abuse of your power as governor of Alaska, where it is alleged that you used your office to access and distribute private information. If you were to become vice president, you would have access to far greater powers that are rarely subject to checks and balances. What assurances do we have that you would not abuse this power entrusted to you?
3. Throughout your campaign, you and Senator McCain have said that Alaska’s proximity to Russia has given you national security experience. Do you have any other national security credentials?
4. As mayor of Wasilla, Alaska you enacted a policy of charging rape victims for their own rape examinations. Would you please explain your rationale behind enacting such a policy?
5. Were Pakistan’s government to fall and a radical government take over, thus gaining control of nuclear weapons, what course of action would you advise a President McCain to take?

First debate wrap-up & a note on the VP debate

Just a quick wrap-up on the first presidential debate. Neither Senator Obama nor Senator McCain can claim to have scored a knock out blow, but at the same time, neither of them had a major gaffe. After taking the weekend to think about it, the debate has to go to Obama because of what he accomplished. Senator Obama officially introduced himself to the “low information voter” and did so in a manner that showed he is able to lead as President of the United States. The “low information voter” already knows who John McCain is, but Barack Obama is new to them (even with the over twenty months of 2008 election coverage that has bombarded their TVs nightly). Obama’s answers spoke much better to this key group than McCain’s, as the “low information voter” wants to hear that Obama would send troops into Pakistan to get al Qaeda; they don’t want to hear McCain’s scolding response. At the same time, they don’t want to get into earmarks, which really don’t seem to mean much to this voting group at all.

Finally, a note on the upcoming vice presidential debate. Sarah Palin has been bombing her interviews and McCain aides have been privately expressing concern over how she will fare against Joe Biden on Thursday. She really could perform terribly, or all of these missteps and leaks of performance anxiety could be the greatest political trick ever pulled.

Hillary Clinton responds to first debate

The following is a statement from Senator Hillary Clinton about the first presidential debate:

Tonight Barack Obama displayed beyond a doubt that he understands both the gravity of the financial crisis facing America, and the challenges we face in Iraq and around the world. Senator McCain offered only more of the same failed policies of the Bush Administration. America deserves better.

I stood next to Barack Obama in 22 debates and tonight epitomized why millions are joining me in standing with him and working hard to ensure he is the next President of the United States.

Gearing up for the VP debate McCain aides think Palin could be disaster

This could either be setting the bar very low or the truth. Ed Schultz has the details:

Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people
are more than concerned about Palin.

The campaign has held a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as “disastrous.” One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, “What are we going to do?” The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is “clueless.”

The entire first presidential debate

Obama to McCain “You were wrong”

A clip of tonight’s debate being circulated by the Obama campaign:

First presidential debate: initial impressions

John McCain and Barack Obama participate in the first presidential debate moderated by PBS' Jim Lehrer

The first presidential debate has ended and here are our first impressions:

• Senator McCain seems to have gotten a slight edge over Senator Obama for the night as a whole
• Obama passed the “Commander in Chief” test
• McCain could not look at or directly address Obama
• McCain came off as conceited in repeatedly scolding Obama
• Jim Lehrer did not do a good job moderating the debate
• Overall the debate was boring and probably did not hold the interest of the low information voter
• Neither candidate really wanted to touch the bailout issue
• McCain opened himself up to several attacks, but Obama declined to throw a punch
• McCain’s body language was awful with the smirking and such
• Obama outperformed McCain on the Afghanistan topic of the debate
• McCain had the best line of the night when he said he has looked into Vladimir Putin’s eyes and seen three letters “K G B”

Note on the first presidential debate

Due to a previous commitment, we will not be liveblogging the first presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama.