Buzz Poll: Tonight's Winner
Jeff Alworth
After a remarkable 48 hours of strange turns in the campaign, John McCain and Barack Obama will settle down to their first debate tonight. Winning and losing are subjective, but in terms who will be helped most by the debate politically, who do you think will come out on top?
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2:03 p.m.
Sep 26, '08
Didn't McCain already declare victory this morning?
2:06 p.m.
Sep 26, '08
His vote has been noted. I'm interested in yours.
2:09 p.m.
Sep 26, '08
Hah! Forget it Jeff. Considering that McCain may yet send his wife instead, or give all his answers in Esperanto, or wear one of those collars you put on a dog after surgery just to inject another note of "razzle dazzle" into the sagging campaign, who could predict what might happen a whole 4 hours from now?
Sep 26, '08
I think this debate will go well for Obama. If they stick to foreign policy as the topic(s) then I think he has a great chance to disprove the assertion that he wouldn't be a good commander in chief. He would, he just needs to come out hard and strong to make up for his relative "lack of resume'" in that area. I don't see him out and out "winning" on foreign policy issues but I do see him coming out ahead. If they decide to change tonights debate to domestic issues and the economy McCain is going to get slaughtered. He is out of talking points to fall back on and he won't be able to make up new ones quick enough when the questions are flying.
2:20 p.m.
Sep 26, '08
I have to admit, I'm filled with dread. Things have been so amazingly bad for McCain/Palin this week that it feels like one of those moments when disaster could strike. But I'm gloomy about these kinds of things.
2:31 p.m.
Sep 26, '08
My fear is that - because things have been so bad for McCain/Palin - if he simply manages to stand upright and deliver his lines without a heart attack, it will be treated by the media as a complete narrative reversal, putting him "back on track".
Sep 26, '08
It seems to me that Mccain has done a hell of a job lowering expectations over the past couple days. At this point, anything less than a decisive victory by BO will be played as a loss by the MSM (and JM's ads, of course). It kind of worries me.
2:43 p.m.
Sep 26, '08
Things have been so amazingly bad for McCain/Palin this week that it feels like one of those moments when disaster could strike.
Hmmm... I know exactly how you feel.
2:46 p.m.
Sep 26, '08
Poor Kari. I sympathize--remember, I'm a Badger alum. However, the Quizz is a far more substantial figure than John McCain...
2:50 p.m.
Sep 26, '08
I'm hoping someone looks at their watch tonight....tick tick tick
Sep 26, '08
We don't have presidential debates in the US.
As has been said by many observers - they are accurately identified as dueling press conferences.
"Winning" means which campaign does a better job prepping their candidate to deliver soundbite-friendly lines; and which campaign does a better job controlling the mainstream media's narrative of the debate.
Could the expectations for McCain be any lower? Did you know that McCain was a POW?
The McCain campaign will most likely plant one of the following in the audience for the Double Talker Express to refer to:
A fellow POW; A decorated soldier who has "helped implement the successful surge"; An Iraqi who escaped Saddam and has helped to act as a translator for US soldiers; his 8,400 year-old mother; Cindy McCain wearing a $450,000 outfit.
Still, it will be enjoyable to watch Obama illustrate that while McCain is much older, Obama is far more mature.
Hope Sarah Palin is watching - it might be a useful tutorial. Or, to translate for the esteemed choice of McCain: - "good watch you for to learn national security."
Sep 26, '08
I'm with Leo and DB. I think that no matter how the event actually goes, if McCain emerges from it with his candidacy intact, the media will play it as McCain "righting the ship".