Poll - Who won the first debate?

and thats a really key stat.

both parties are trying to get women voters since hillary's ship sank. female voters usually go blue, but it was a tossup in recent polls. palin was selected for several reasons, but i believe one of which was to secure some female votes.

still, obama made a huge jump this week among that population.

 

If Obama has that much of a lead on the over 50 voters its over. McCain is not gonna see anything from the voters under 40.

 

There were times I wished he were on that stage instead of Barack Obama. I had very mixed feelings about the debate. While I think Barack did very well, he could have done better. He appeared to let McCain "control" the conversation too often. Too many times, he attempted to interrupt McCain's diatribes (which I thought Lehrer did a lousy job controlling), and failed to do so. If Lehrer wasn't going to keep control of the debate, Obama should have been more effective doing so himself. If anything, Barack was too "gentlemanly" for my taste. I hope during the next debate he finds a middle ground between his performance last night and how Joe Biden would have handled it. Sure, he isn't Biden, but he sure could have used some "Biden" at times.

McCain? I watched the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon debate live (yes, it is depressing when I think about it! I wish I were too young to remember it), and Nixon didn't lose on substance. People listening on the radio thought Tricky Dick won rather handily. Nixon lost on demeanor. He lost on appearance. By that standard, I thought John McCain lost badly. He never looked Obama in the eye. He ignored him when Obama addressed McCain directly. He repeatedly accused Obama of "not getting it" and the like, when Obama hadn't made a statement worthy of McCain saying that. After the 3rd or 4th time, I thought McCain began to look rediculous doing it. His entire body language was very, very tense. His grip on the podium looked like it was about to splinter wood. I wouldn't have been surprised seeing sparks coming out of his ears. Tense, combative when he didn't need to be, to the point of overkill, at times almost incoherently combative... if that still counts for something during debates, and history shows that sort of thing has an affect, for good or ill (here, for ill, IMO), then McCain lost by that measure. His substance? When he wasn't needlessly attacking obama, he did very well.

My take? Obama didn't hurt himself and probably helped himself with independents. McCain, who probably won on substance, hurt himself, needlessly. End result? Close to a tie, but Obama wins by being good enough on a night that was to focus on his largest weakness. Lehrer was mediocre.

(hope that all came across like I intended it to!)

 

I posted this in the other thread, but it is kind of the way I would score the debate.

McCain didn't make any major blunders. So in that regard he did well. But he didn't land any of the strong punches that Obama did.

When Obama brought up that McCain said the U.S. could just muddle their way through our conflict in Afghanistan, that was a strong blow.

When Obama brought McCain's ignorant boasts about the war in Iraq being easy, about the U.S. being greeted as liberators, and about there not being a history of conflict between Sunni and Shi'ia, that was a major blow against McCain.

When Obama showed McCain's lack of knowledge about Spain and its leader that was a powerful blow.

When McCain tried to lay it on thick with his story about the bracelet and act as if he had a monopoly on Veteran support, and then Obama busted out with "I have a bracelet too." It sucked the wind right out of McCain's sails.

So while McCain didn't have any major gaffes, he didn't also didn't have anything comparable to Obama's best punches.

Obama could have done more, but for some reason didn't bring up mcCain's unwillingness to support the new and improved GI Bill for veterans. So Obama didn't score as high as he could have.

As far as passing the challenges both of them faced for themselves it was a draw. McCain didn't say anything ridiculous about the economy, and Obama clearly showed he a firm grasp of foreign policy. In many cases it was better than McCain's.

As far as style... McCain did look tough, but grumpy, and stubborn as well, and like poor sport. Obama looked thoughtful, gracious, calm, cool, and in charge.

It wasn't a knock out, but Obama seemed to be the winner.

 

This shows that Obama did exactly what he needed to do. Like Reagan in 1980, voters needed reassurance that he is ready for the job. Last night's debate showed that.

 

I tivo'd the debate and just now watched it.

McCain obviously is far more qualified than Obama on foreign policy matters, and that showed through last night. McCain dominated the discussion and dominated on substance. Obama repeated stump speech ideas, but did not show the depth of knowledge that McCain so easily displayed. Time and again Obama fumbled around with platitudes in response to McCain's very detailed explanations on complex points. Obama looked naive and childish next to McCain on the stage. McCain pounded home the notion that Obama is not ready and doesn't understand foreign policy. Hard to argue with that after listening to the debate. Really, it is.


DOMINATION

 

McCain is that teacher you had in college that you would fall asleep to while sitting in the first row. He would tell you the right information but you just couldn't pay attention. It was torture (No pun intended) to watch McCain at the beginning of this debate. On the other hand, Obama danced around some issues when asked about what he would cut after the bailout. All he said was some things would be cut, but then kept re-iterating on the things he wanted to spend. On foreign policy he got schooled by McCain. Without Obama's teleprompter he didn't sound so confident with some of his answers. In the end, I don't think either won. With that being said, McCain needed to hit a homerun on a night where Foreign Policy is supposed to be his forte. He got to second base. It's just going to get worse for McCain with the next debates unless he all of a sudden get's a personality real quick.

 

That's funny. I remember several phrases McCain use last night that came directly from his acceptance speech.

 

I just watched it and I found it really annoying how many times McCain said who he has been friends with for like 80 years and where he has been etc. It was so obvious that he was trained to do this to make it seem like Obama is inexperienced.

 

That's horse ****!

 

Neither one stood out as the clear-cut winner to me. They each had their moments, but it was more of what I've heard already.

 

I didn't get a chance to watch the debate live but just watched it on MSNBC.com I thought it was a good debate with both candidates doing a fairly good job. I'm going to give a narrow victory to Obama because McCain seemed to get hung up too much about Iraq where ever question ended up being about Iraq. I also think that Obama had the best zinger of the debate "I have a bracelet too." I don't think McCain hurt himself though and I don't think this debate will sway swings much either way.

 

I said in June that the more McCain kept repeating how "experienced" he was as a long-time senator and POW, the less effective the argument would become over time. He proved my point on Friday. It's a tired argument right now that doesn't help him any more with swing voters. If he had been more selective about pulling that out of his pocket and had engaged Obama more on substantive issues earlier on, McCain could have played that card late to help clinch undecided voters.

 

We still live in a nation where Obama can't appear too angry. The cool and laid back demeanor some beat reporters criticize him with whould work better, imo, on those undecided audiences who doesn't read or watch much news yet still vote in droves.

 

It was more or less a draw with both getting their licks in. But considering the foreign policy topic was one McCain was supposed to win handily in a debate, a draw=win for Obama.

 

I'm sorry but any candidate that actually says "horse****" during a debate......gets my vote.

McCain/Palin 2008

 

And no one can talk horse**** of course. That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mister McCain.