Pre-Debate Open Stream
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Debates, McCain
What’s on your mind tonight?
What do you want to hear?
What do you NOT want to hear?
Any predictions?
Talk!
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Debates, McCain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Obama will continue to act cool, not respond harshly to any attacks and run out the clock.
McCain has to make Obama seem unelectable. He won’t be able to. Only Obama can do that as this point.
So Obama needs a BIG bobble tonight on the economy. And I mean HUGE.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Check out these numbers…
Illinois 500 LV, 4.5%
Obama 56, McCain 39
Sen: Durbin (D-i) 62, Sauerberg (R) 31
Kansas 500 LV, 4.5%
McCain 54, Obama 41
Sen: Roberts (R-i) 55, Slattery (D) 36
Massachusetts 500 LV, 4.5%
Obama 62, McCain 34
Sen: Kerry (D-i) 63, Beatty (R) 31
New Mexico 700 LV, 4%
Obama 55, McCain 42
Sen: Udall (D) 57, Pearce (R) 37
New Mexico is done. And Kansas is actually down to 13 points? Wow.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
More “great” advice for McCain from the folks over at NRO:
Jeezus…
October 15th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
For starters, how about an actual debate or something close to it. Put another way, the number one thing that tonight’s debate needs is clash. By this, I don’t mean pointless attacks. Rather, clash results when one person makes an argument for a particular position/proposition and then the other person responds to that argument.
We haven’t really seen debates, instead, what we have been watching are dueling press conferences that are being billed as debates.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Political Realm tells us to watch for these things…
1) Will McCain bring up Ayers? He’s somewhat boxed himself in on this point. McCain signaled earlier this week that he intended to discuss Obama’s ties to the former radical, but his campaign is well aware that such aggressiveness could easily backfire.
2) The format may also preclude McCain from attacking directly. The two candidates will be seated at a table and it will be awfully uncomfortable if McCain goes on the attack.
3) Will Bob Schieffer bring up Ayers? If he does, it will provide some cover for McCain to push the issue, but I think most voters are so focused in on the economy at this point that they will dismiss such an effort.
4) Is this McCain’s last chance to change the dynamics of the race? Most pundits seem to think McCain needs to somehow disqualify Obama in order to have a shot at winning. How he does that tonight, I’m not sure. I tend to think that this race is already out of McCain’s hands. Barring some kind of significant foreign policy event–another bin Laden tape, perhaps–McCain would have to run the table in the battlegrounds (nothing short of a miracle at this point) in order to win.
5) Will McCain’s distaste for Obama continue to show tonight? His contempt has been rather obvious at the first two debates and, while it isn’t a huge deal, it certainly doesn’t help his cause.
6) With the lead, Obama is simply hoping for no significant mistakes tonight. Having already passed the commander-in-chief test in the first two debates, a clean performance tonight could seal the deal.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Come now…that stuff still does happen. Obama engaged McCain quite a few times in the first time, most notably when he said, “You were wrong, You were wrong.”…etc.
But if you want a debate you saw in forensics, well, those days are gone. These candidates know they have 2 minute to answer a question, so they have to make their message simple and direct. So blame the format, not the candidates.
October 15th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Okay, this thread is still open, but everybody will be over here.