First Presidential debate 9/26

[Uncle Mxy]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fac...ck_starts.html

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2...bate_no_1.html

[Big Swami]

I think McCain needed to hit it out of the park in order to come out ahead on what was clearly a pretty terrible week for him. He didn't really do that, but he hit a respectable grounder. Problem is, he was up against a dude who's been hitting respectable grounders for a while now.

It was a really civil debate - you could tell that Jim Lehrer was bummed out that they didn't go for each other's throats. The media might have found it boring, but I think there was a lot of substance in this debate (compared to years past), and I'm happy about that.

[Uncle Mxy]

Poll after poll shows Obama did better (and I'm not talking "internet polls" or other such nonsense):

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2...ndecideds.html

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics...llup-poll.html

I think the key is not so much "who won the debate" but "who overcame the negative perceptions about them better amongst indies". I think Obama did a much better job coming across as "not a jive-talking lightweight" than McCain did in coming across as "not old and cranky". I think that's what Obama was going for. He's deliberately NOT going for the Mortal Kombat fatality, because he knows a lot of disengaged independent voters don't go for fighting. I bet he made it a point of saying that McCain was right.

It's clear that Obama certainly CAN go for the jugular. This from the DC meeting just before the debate:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...603957_pf.html

No, Boehner replied, he just wanted his members to have a voice. Obama then jumped in to turn the question on his rival: "What do you think of the [insurance] plan, John?" he asked repeatedly. McCain did not answer.

One Republican in the room said it was clear that the Democrats came into the meeting with a "game plan" aimed at forcing McCain to choose between the administration and House Republicans. "They had taken McCain's request for a meeting and trumped it," said this source.

It's even more of a hoot that Lehrer forced McCain to choose on stage.