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As I reported last week, Donald Trump’s supporters are 11% more enthusiastic to vote for him than Hillary Clinton’s supporters are to vote for her: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3477790/posts A Fox News poll released after I wrote said Trump’s supporters are 70% enthusiastic to vote for him and Clinton’s supporters are 57% enthusiastic to vote for her; suggesting the enthusiasm gap may be growing. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/10/07/fox-news-poll-clinton-edges-trump-by-two-points-one-month-ahead-election.html Based on the broad reaction to their second debate where Trump only lost in news rooms the DNC and the RNC, there seems to be little reason to think Trump’s supporters are significantly less enthused to vote for...

Last night’s CNN-sponsored GOP presidential debate at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA was promoted with the title "It’s On: Watch Sparks Fly.” Debate moderator Jake Tapper was joined by CNN’s Dana Bash and radio host Hugh Hewitt, who posed additional questions to the 11 candidates, including Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina, Rand Paul, Scott Walker, John Kasich and Chris Christie. And while CNN shamelessly attempted to engender a political food fight, the candidates themselves mostly refused to play along.

The CNN Republican primary debate on Sept. 16 will be divided into two parts featuring two different sets of candidates: those who rank in the top 10 according to public polling, and the remaining candidates who meet a minimum threshold of one percent in public polilng, the On Media blog has learned. The debate critera is more inclusive than the first Repbulican primary debate hosted by Fox News on August 6. That debate will only feature candidates who finish in the top 10 in an average of the five most recent national polls. The remaining candidates will get airtime on...

One of the many tense moments in the second presidential debate turned on a new topic in the race: President Barack Obama’s pension account. Here’s how it came up: Early in the face-off, Obama scoffed at Mitt Romney’s pledge to crack down on unfair trading practices by China, saying Romney is currently invested in companies "that are building surveillance equipment for China to spy on its own folks." Romney later explained that, yes, he understands that his blind trust has invested in foreign firms, including companies in China. Then he confronted Obama. Romney: "Mr. President, have you looked at your...

Daily Recycler has posted the clip from the debate where Kerry claims he met with the UN Security Council the week before the debate.

I thought John Kerry clearly won the first debate, lost the second, and did worse in the third. Most Americans, however, apparently disagreed, since many polls showed that respondents thought Kerry won all three. We hear of mayhem daily in Iraq; news on the economic front is mixed; and an entire host of surrogates has defamed George Bush in a manner not seen in decades during a political campaign. Why, then, does Kerry gain little traction, trail in most polls, and perhaps even start to slip further? After all, he is a hard campaigner, has a razor-sharp memory, speaks well,...

GIBSON: Mr. President, the next question is for you, and it comes from Jonathan Michaelson, over here. MICHAELSON: Mr. President, if there were a vacancy in the Supreme Court and you had the opportunity to fill that position today, who would you choose and why? BUSH: I'm not telling. (LAUGHTER) I really don't have -- haven't picked anybody yet. Plus, I want them all voting for me. (LAUGHTER) I would pick somebody who would not allow their personal opinion to get in the way of the law. I would pick somebody who would strictly interpret the Constitution of the United...

Fifteen minutes before the second televised Presidential debate, on the night of Friday, Oct. 8, the stoic voice of anchor Brit Hume came over the Fox News Channel’s control-room intercom. "Do you know about this Mark Halperin memo?" he asked the room full of producers, who were hunched over the dials and standing before a tall bank of flickering TV screens. "Can we talk about it on the air? It’s on Drudge. It’s all over Drudge." In a leaked memo, Mr. Halperin, the ABC News political director, had suggested that the network should be more critical of President Bush than...

Sarah Degenhart's question was simple, straightforward and had absolutely nothing to do with Sen. John Kerry's long-ago service as an altar boy. "Senator Kerry," she asked in the town-hall debate, "suppose you are speaking with a voter who believed abortion is murder and the voter asked for reassurance that his or her tax dollars would not go to support abortion, what would you say to that person?" Now, this hypothetical taxpayer could be an atheist for all we know. Ms. Degenhart's question was secular enough she could have asked it in a public school without being sued by the ACLU....

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When pro-Kerry commentators solemnly pronounce Debate Round 2 to have been "a draw" -- you know George Bush won that round.The president won because he went in with a theme spoken by the heavyweight champion Joe Louis, just before his 1946 victory over the lighter, faster Billy Conn: "He can run, but he can't hide." (The Brown Bomber caught up with Conn in the eighth round of that first TV spectacular.)Bush's debate plan was to keep boring in on the Kerry record: flip-flopping this year on the war, but all too consistently liberal for 20 years on...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) bounced back into a tie with Democratic challenger John Kerry (news - web sites) one day before their final debate, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Tuesday. Bush gained three points on the Massachusetts senator to move into a 45-45 percent dead heat in the latest three-day tracking poll of the White House campaign.(SNIP)

Though he again looked largely polished and smooth, John Kerry showed unusual temerity in taking multiple positions on each issue during the same debate—making him look more like a panderer than a president. Providing stark contrast was a finally-presidential George W. Bush, confidently and cogently explaining his positions, taking 30 extra seconds for follow-ups instead of begging for them. Even his slightly stranger moments—“got some wood”—somehow worked. Whether on the economy, Iraq, abortion, or stem-cell research, Kerry gave alternately confused and contradictory answers. Perhaps those with “superior intellects” might be able to reconcile Kerry’s various stances, but ordinary voters likely...

Debate #'s: FNC 7.1, CNN 3.4, MSNBC 1.7 Mil During the debate, FNC averaged 7,089,000 viewers, CNN delivered 3,376,000 and MSNBC had 1,709,000. (The two MSNBC's = one CNN and two CNN's = one FNC formula is back in effect.) For Fox, that's a 257% increase over the same debate in 2000. (It's a 85% increase for MSNBC and 26% boost for CNN.) Once again, MSNBC's ratings improved after the debate: The network averaged 2,185,000 viewers between 10:37 and 11pm, a press release noted. In primetime (8 to 11pm), FNC averaged 5,700,000 viewers, while CNN had 2,597,000 and MSNBC had...

<p>King Abdullah of Jordan said just yesterday or the day before you can't hold elections in Iraq with the chaos that's going on today. Sen. Richard Lugar, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said that the handling of the reconstruction aid in Iraq by this administration has been incompetent. . . . Sen. Hagel of Nebraska said that the handling of Iraq is beyond pitiful, beyond embarrassing; it's in the zone of dangerous. . . .</p>

ABC Poll: Second Debate Changed Few Minds ABC News Poll Shows Debate Had Little Impact on Voter Perceptions Analysis By BRIAN HARTMAN Oct. 11, 2004— The second presidential debate left voter perceptions largely unchanged: John Kerry didn't further advance the gains he scored in the first debate, nor did George W. Bush either cede or reclaim ground. Kerry remains more competitive in terms of personal popularity than he was before debate No. 1, an important improvement for him. But Bush continues to hold the upper hand on leadership, clarity and the issues of Iraq and terrorism. Sampling, data collection...

Survey USA: Debate is a Draw By First Coast News Staff JACKSONVILLE, FL -- President Bush and Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry sparred to a draw Friday night according to an exclusive Survey USA poll of 605 viewers in the Jacksonville area who watched the debate. 42% of those polled say Bush clearly won, and 42% say Kerry clearly won. 15% of those polled said there was no clear winner. 75% said the debate will not change how they will vote in November. 20% say the debate did change their vote. Of the 124 people who are changing their vote,...

October 10, 2004--Voters have decided that the second Presidential debate was a tie. A Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 Likely Voters conducted Saturday afternoon found that 41% believe John Kerry "won" Friday night's debate while 40% disagree and think George Bush emerged victorious. The survey's margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% Level of Confidence. Bush voters, by a 79% to 2% margin, say that their man won. Kerry voters, by an 85% to 2% said the same about their candidate. This is in contrast to the first debate where voters initially declared Kerry the...

OP-ED COLUMNIST Washington When pro-Kerry commentators solemnly pronounce Debate Round 2 to have been "a draw" - you know George Bush won that round. The president won because he went in with a theme spoken by the heavyweight champion Joe Louis, just before his 1946 rematch victory over the lighter, faster Billy Conn: "He can run, but he can't hide." (The Brown Bomber caught up with Conn in the eighth round of that first TV spectacular.) Bush's debate plan was to keep boring in on the Kerry record: flip-flopping this year on the war, but all too consistently liberal for...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend <% printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%> Print Version October 09, 2004, 10:29 a.m. W., OnFriday was a good night for President Bush. I thought George W. Bush was terrific during Friday night's debate. He was passionate, engaged, and combative, while still being likable and funny. One Bush campaign adviser has told me all year, "You know, I can see the look in his eyes, and I just know when the light comes on and its really time to perform in this race he's going to do it." After last week I was thinking...

The Undecided: No More Beating Around the Bush Jan LaRue, Esq. (archive)October 9, 2004 | Print | Send When President Bush shook hands with Sen. Kerry last night at the second presidential debate in St. Louis, I had the feeling he whispered, “I hope you’re not a fan of re-runs.” A strong, energized, confident and frownless president brought his game and went after his opponent with steely-eyed determination and a sense of humor. Kerry’s face showed surprise, if not concern. Apparently the Botox hadn’t kicked in. And well it should, because the Kerry record, or lack thereof, took a...