a thread to discuss the 9/26 debate

[kagenaki koe]

a plus for Obama: on post-debate news Biden is available for his points, Palin is not.

ha!

[Troy McClure]

Might as well post my opinion for history. Neither one did so well / so bad that they'll gain / lose support in the polls. McCain stuck to his script. Obama seemed to adjust better. But Obama didn't go after McCain about his poor voting record on recent veteran's funding and not support the new GI Bill. Obama should have gone for the jugular then. McCain not looking at Obama when Obama was engaging him was a clear dick move by McCain, but I doubt most people noticed.

Jason

[kagenaki koe]

Obama could've scored big if he had attacked McCain when Johnny dipped into the Petreaus/Victory In Iraq puppetline by talking about Petreaus' more recent comments that there is no "victory" in Iraq:

This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade... it's not war with a simple slogan."

[gambit]

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/09...y4482028.shtml

CBS News and Knowledge Networks conducted a nationally representative poll of approximately 500 uncommitted voters reacting to the debate in the minutes after it happened.

These figures are still preliminary and could change as more respondents complete the survey. But here's what we have so far:

Forty percent of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Barack Obama was the winner. Twenty-two percent thought John McCain won. Thirty-eight percent saw it as a draw.

Forty-six percent of uncommitted voters said their opinion of Obama got better tonight.

Sixty-eight percent of uncommitted voters think Obama would make the right decisions about the economy. Forty-one percent think McCain would.

Forty-nine percent of these voters think Obama would make the right decisions about Iraq. Fifty-five percent think McCain would.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Just the first of three guys.

[Sean]

CNN gives it to Obama too. Overall:

Fifty-one percent of those polled in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey of Americans who viewed the debate say that Obama won. Thirty-eight percent of those polled say that John McCain did the best job.

Tonight supposedly being McCain's strongest subject, I'd say this is a damaging loss for him.

A Drudge Report poll has McCain winning right now though. Although I think Drudge Report pulls in more conservatives than liberals.

[Troy McClure]

Here's a detailed CBS poll showing numbers pre- and post- debate among undecideds. Some areas of improvement that Senator Obama made with the group are astonishing just after the first debate.

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/2008Debate1.pdf

Per CBS:
Nearly half of those uncommitted voters who watched the debate said that their image of Obama changed for the better as a result. Just 8% say their opinion of Obama got worse, and 46% reported no change in their opinions.

THE DEBATE’S EFFECT ON OPINIONS OF THE CANDIDATES
(Among uncommitted voters who watched debate)


McCain saw less improvement in his image. 32% have improved their image of McCain as a result of the debate, but 21% said their views of him are now worse than before.

Obama McCain
Better 46% 32%

Worse 8% 21%

No change 46% 47%


Jason

[Deckard]

This can only mean one thing...

[rayray]

did mccain make eye contact once with obama - it was weird, came off as so angry that he couldn't even look at him. what a bizarre dynamic from a presidential candidate.

[Deckard]

There was hardly any eye contact from McCain - it was like he didn't want to be seen to be acknowledging Obama as an equal. I suspect he'll be briefed on that between now and the next debate - along with that creepy smirk and that occasional Bush-like snickering that he did.

Gotta say, I'm surprised CNN etc are reporting that Obama 'won' the debate. Pleased but surprised.