I totally agree with Krauthammer's comments. Obama did very well early in tonight's debate, but McCain certainly finished very strong with his final comments (I am SO glad McCain had the final word).
Thru my conservative/Republican eyes, McCain won tonight, but if I were a younger undecided voter, I would probably say Obama won this debate. I think it was a tie.
McCain talked about and made references to many things in the past. YES, I know these things are extremely important, as we learn from history, but "young" (ie age 30-40) people may not readily know what "KGB" is, as one example of McCain's references. There are many people in that 30-40 age group that are undecideds.
Also... we were given no insight about McCain's suspension of his campaign yesterday. I thought he'd make some definitive statement about that. Is McCain's campaign still "suspended"? I'm pretty confused as to why he did that.
Obama came across as more "caring" about the average middle class person in the first part of the debate. Sadly more non-political junkie voters are now concerned about the economy first, national security second, or even further down the chain. And I believe the next few debates are focused on the economy, which will most likely favor Obama. Are any of these future debates in the townhall format favored by McCain?
Of course I don't agree with Obama on much, but I have to admit he did better than I expected.
Frank Luntz group feels Obama won the night.
Yeah, it sounds like style (Obama) definitely won over substance (McCain). This focus group took place in Nevada, right? Wasn't Nevada a pretty safe red state in 2000 and 2004? It's purple to blue now, I think.
I'm still very worried...
Don’t be worried about that Luntz focus group. What Luntz was saying wasn’t indicative of the show of hands by the group or the silly reaction graphs. Also, these were not Nevada voters - they were people on gambling junkets that Luntz dredged up at the casinos. They probably just lost a couple hundy at the slots and wanted someone to “care” about them.
Every Fred Luntz group had Kerry winning the debates in ‘04.
Do not worry Jeremiah Wright is coming back and he is the one who will finish Obama once and for all :)
By the way, McCain won this debate, there is no doubt about it.
Agree. The area it covered was the economy which is the subject of the next two debates and that worries me. I thought McCain repeated himself too often and some of his points weren't as clean as they could have been. Some of his lines were ones I've heard on the campaign trail but tonight they were jumbled. There were several lost opportunities that he should not allow happen during the next two debates. Obama was swarmy, rude and my perception was that he seemed to have more speaking time than McCain. However if foreign policy was his weaker suit and it was a draw he faired well.
good comment nutmeg! Please check your FReep Mail? /d