Obama – 50%
McCain – 45%
McCain gains one back today, but Obama has been at 50% for 4 straight days now. So with only 36 days left until the election, one has to wonder what will be able to shift these numbers significantly enough in McCain’s favor since the only time he has really led is [...]

I realize I’m a few days late in my debate reaction, but I wanted to go ahead and begin the new week by sharing a few thoughts on the first John McCain / Barack Obama debate. I liked more than I didn’t like. So let’s get to it:
What I Liked
Both candidates seemed very well prepared. [...]

John McCain has a real uphill challenge over the next 30+ days.
Just about every major poll shows him trailing by 5 points or so, and in the key battleground red states– Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Ohio – he’s also lagging.  The politics of the bailout, his campaign suspension, and debate performance did not help him; in fact, [...]

While the pundits said it was a draw, Americans felt differently.
From ABC:
A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows 46% of people who watched Friday night’s presidential debate say Democrat Barack Obama did a better job than Republican John McCain; 34% said McCain did better.
Obama scored even better — 52%-35% — when debate-watchers were asked which candidate [...]

The sad part? At one point in this video, Fey basically takes one of Palin’s answer verbatim and simply says what she said.

Oh Sarah…you will be missed.

House Republicans could still try to blow it up because lawmakers want EVERYBODY to support it. Something tells me that those politicians in the House won’t pass ANYTHING, though, so Dem and Repubs in the Senate may just have to bite the bullet.
The good news? Both Obama and McCain say they’ll probably support it. So [...]

Well, looks like Americans really did think Obama won the debate.
Add to that the horrible Palin/Couric interview and McCain’s campaign suspension stunt, and you have the makings of a perfect storm that sees McCain with his lowest numbers since Gallup started polling.

And about the impact of the debate…
The full impact of the debate and [...]

Obama – 50%
McCain – 44%
Obama’s big lead holds steady today and is the first time he has held a 6 point advantage for more than one day.
And folks, I’m going to call this one right now and say that a lot of this is fallout from Palin. After all, why would Obama be enjoying more [...]

Barack Obama and John McCain at Ole Miss University with Jim Lehrer as moderator.
Game on!
Part One

Part Two

The campaign puts out “Zero” today, which is an incredibly effective ad because of its simplicity…

Then Obama pushes the meme at a campaign stop today…

Quote of the day: “The truth is, through 90 minutes of the debate, John McCain had a lot to say about me. But he had nothing to say about you.”
If McCain [...]

Frank Luntz with another one of his famous “dial-a-candidate” poll groups, but this one is interesting because the group was apparently composed completely of undecideds. Well, except maybe the woman who shouts “McCain!” when Luntz asks who they support. :-)
What’s more, 50% of them voted for Kerry in 2004 and 50% of them voted for [...]

Every post-debate poll we’ve seen so far has Obama clearly winning by double digits. Why is this? It’s not like Obama had some sort of breakout moment or McCain had a big stumble.
Well, I think it had a lot to do with what the following McCain ad points out as a weakness…

Obama disagreed with McCain [...]

Rest in peace.

Obama gains one and McCain drops one to open up a wider lead. Now Rasmussen and Gallup both have Obama with leads well outside of the margin of error.

So what to make of this?
These results, from Sept. 24-26, are almost entirely based on interviewing conducted before Friday night’s first presidential debate. This suggests Obama [...]

Obama – 50%
McCain – 44%
More fallout from Palin?
McCain drops yet another point today as the first day after the debate has Obama hitting his biggest lead. Only a few other times in the election cycle has he been up over McCain by 6 points, one of which was directly after the Dem convention.
On the bailout…the [...]

For a debate that was originally intended to focuses exclusively on foreign policy, there was a point during the evening where I wondered if we’d see more than a prefunctory focus on matters outside the United States.
From the beginning and for the first 40 minutes, Jim Lehrer kept the focus solely and exclusively on the [...]

If Obama won by 13% among all voters, that’s pretty significant. And if he won by that amount among independents, it’s even more significant.
An explanation…
About an hour ago, I posted about a CBS snap poll that showed a 14% post-debate spread among independents who thought Obama won it.
Now, I haven’t found out if the CNN [...]

“Unfortunately, I think Obama won this debate.”
- Dick Morris, kicking the dirt on Hannity & Colmes
(h/t: Calderone)

In fact, the margin favors Obama by 14% with independent voters.
From CBS:
46% of uncommitted voters said their opinion of Obama got better tonight. 32% percent said their opinion of McCain got better.
And on the economy, Obama absolutely dominated by 24 points…
66% of uncommitted voters think Obama would make the right decisions about the economy. 42% [...]

This podcast offers commentary and analysis about the first presidential debate about the economy and foreign policy between Barack Obama and John McCain at the University of Mississippi.
[Listen Online] or [Download]
[Subscribe to 2008Central.net's Presidential Election Podcast]
Feel free to email us questions/suggestions for our next podcast (you can also email an audio file of your question [...]