Presidential Debates Archive

Watching the debate has been a roller coaster ride for me - both from being outside of the country and seeing how people are responding to the election and the financial crisis. But the thing that has been the scariest has been watching the tactics of the two campaigns and seeing which is winning out in the press.

My $0.02 of tonights debate

Watching this - I saw in the first third of the debate a candidate who looked like a deer caught in the headlights - bobbing and weaving on the issues of the financial crisis. With more stories of past experiences and no substance, McCain has to ride out the conversation topics since his gambit on “suspending the campaign” did not work out. And, it seems as though his debate prep consisted of two things - ride through the financial crisis with various stories and do not look at Obama.

Obama, on the other hand, seemed to be focusing on the concept of being the Presidential statesman - the person who will rise above the double-talk rhetoric and to establish himself as the more “presidential”. I keep thinking that his answers could benefit from the training that Biden is getting - less rhetoric and more meat and KISS (keep it simple).

For the most part, the economic part of this debate was Obama’s to win, and McCain scampered through it.
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