Upshot: Well, McCain said he was gonna whoop Obama’s you-know-what; I didn’t see that happen. He threw a few punches and Obama dodged ‘em and threw a couple back, and basically stood firm. I think that graphs of McCain’s polling numbers will still be difficult to distinguish from recent stock market indices.
19:29 PDT: McCain’s appeal is to serve his country one more time and to be the steward of our tax dollars; Obama’s final appeal was a vision of the future and an appeal for us all to work together to make it a reality.
19:28 PDT: Medicare and Social Security never came up in a debate on domestic issues.
19:27 PDT: Did McCain just snort in front of millions of Americans? But he did just say “My friends.” -200 pts.
19:23 PDT: Heh. McCain just scolded Obama. “I’m surprised you didn’t pay more attention, you young whippersnapper!”
19:22 PDT: McCain’s plan for everything seems to be sending a check from the government. Vouchers for schools, $5000 for health, etc.
19:20 PDT: The candidate’s education plans seem a lot weaker in detail than their other plans.
19:18 PDT: McCain keeps attacking Obama’s eloquence. Trying to picture someone attacking JFK’s or Teddy Roosevelt’s or Churchill’s eloquence like it’s a bad thing.
19:14 PDT: One of the reasons I support Obama: he’s voicing something that I’ve long felt, that nobody wants to be put in a position to choose an abortion, and that both sides should be able to come together to make the prevention of unintended pregnancies a priority.
19:07 PDT: Interesting juggling by the candidates in response to picking a judge who would or wouldn’t support Roe v. Wade–they are both disavowing using litmus tests to pick a potential Supreme Court justice. It’s fun to see some of the Constitutional Law prof come out in Obama.
18:59 PDT: A bit pained at hearing McCain’s health plan v. Obama’s [ack! not Joe the Plumber again!]. McCain: Encouraging businesses to get their employees exercising v. Obama: fairly detailed plan, keeping employer based health care, covering pre-existing conditions, reducing premiums. Response to McCain’s persistent question about the fines to small businesses: “Joe, here’s your fine: zero!” Also from Obama: McCain’s credit is $5000, average family’s annual plan costs are $12,000.
18:49 PDT: Obama’s going for no dependence on Middle-Eastern and Venezuelan oil in ten years.
18:47 PDT: McCain gets points for not saying “my friends” even once. But he loses with the “nuclear fuel is safe cause I sailed around on Navy ships with reactors”
18:44 PDT: Schieffer asked Obama point blank if he thought Palin was qualified. Obama basically passed. McCain is going after Biden.
18:43 PDT: McCain’s defense of Palin: she’s a reformer, she’ll sweep out the old boy’s network, and she understands families with special needs children.
18:40 PDT: Ooh, I like Schieffer. He just asked the candidates to compare their running mates.
18:37 PDT: Joe the Plumber keeps getting mentioned. Who is this man? Here’s what a Google image search pulls up:
18:36 PDT: McCain just launched the Ayers and ACORN allegations. Obama is setting the record straight.
18:25 PDT: Whoa! Bob Schieffer just mentioned some of the ugly accusations the campaigns have hurled at each other and asked if they would be willing to say the same things to each other face to face.
18:24 PDT: I really like the intimacy of the two candidates sitting at a table with each other and the openness of format, with Obama and McCain able to ask follow up questions of each other.
18:19 PDT: I caught the first part on the radio in the car…difficult to blog and drive at the same time.
