This is the Presidential Campaign Thread.

Barack Obama Vs. John McCain.

Edited November 6, 200817 yr by Toups

Here are a couple of Huffpost links that might be of interest:

This is fluff and I don't necessarily agree with what it says but it presents a perspective I hadn't thought about:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathlyn-and-...a_b_128896.html

I don't know who Kathleen Parker is but some might agree with her:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/26/k...t_n_129535.html

Obama didn't let McCain dictate anything..He turned him down..

Evidentally Obama feels the same exact way..He's scared of McCain in a town hall format!! LOL

Barack Obama is awesome in the town hall format. Obama isn't scared of McCain whatsoever. One would have to be a poor speaker such as W or Sarah Palin to be scared of old man McCain.

McCain dictated the debates just by making the offer and saying what style they should be.

McCain wanted the town hall meetings because that's his thing.

Exactly!

McCain dictated the debates just by making the offer and saying what style they should be.

McCain wanted the town hall meetings because that's his thing.

I think McCain wanted to have town hall meetings as a way of offsetting Obama's financial advantage. It's free television time and it also keeps Obama off the campaign trail. Obama draws very large crowds. If he has to pull off the campaign once a week to attend a town hall meeting in a state where he may or may not be campaigning, then the town hall meetings start dictating the campaign. You have to schedule your entire week around the town hall meeting instead of scheduling a town hall meeting around the campaign.

There was no strategic benefit to Obama to participate in town hall meetings. Look at the Democratic debates. No one watched them toward the end and really the town hall meetings would have lost interest. McCain was the under dog and the town hall meetings were just a stunt aimed at setting it up so that he controlled the flow of the campaign. Why, for instance, would Obama invest one hour, much less an entire day, in Texas?

Also, as a debater, Obama has not always been great. He tends to give very long answers.

Edited September 26, 200817 yr by Jess

Also, as a debater, Obama has not always been great. He tends to give very long answers.

He needs to learn to be succint. He may be trying to be thorough but sounding professorial sometimes causes people to lose the gist of whatever he's saying which is a problem when he's talking about something complex.

Tonight is going to be a very interesting night, I am watching Diane Sawyer now and they are showing Obama and McCain in a very human light, not as just a candidate.

CNN has quite an impressive "round table" going on prior to the event. We are enjoying it.

He needs to learn to be succint. He may be trying to be thorough but sounding professorial sometimes causes people to lose the gist of whatever he's saying which is a problem when he's talking about something complex.

Kind of like Gore.

Hasn't even Bush said that the likelihood of another 9/11 is even greater than before, or something to that effect? I'm surprised McCain said it is lower.

Hasn't even Bush said that the likelihood of another 9/11 is even greater than before, or something to that effect? I'm surprised McCain said it is lower.

I'm not because it would have gone against his insistence that the "war" is going to be won if he indicated in any way that it wasn't making us completely safer.

I am sure that eventually there will be some discussion about tonight's debate....or at least I assume so......what do you think of McCain repeatedly saying that Obama doesn't understand or is naive?

UGH, I love watching those little rating lines, but my TV wasn't on CNN so I didn't see that.

UGH, I love watching those little rating lines, but my TV wasn't on CNN so I didn't see that.

I wasn't watching CNN either. As I was listening and watching I noticed that McCain said that a number of times and I know what he was trying to do. I wanted to see if anyone found it effective.

I'm watching MSNBC and Pat Buchanan just said that McCain won on points and that he was tough and basically beat Obama down and showed his leadership skills.

The little lines were interesting to watch. Man, people don't like it when the candidates talk about each other. Attacks do not work.

You know, I thought McCain was condescending. It's interesting, the polls show that most people thought Obama won. I turned over to watch Fox. All they could say was how their email clearly showed McCain was the winner. :lol: Frank Lutz did say the focus group he was with thought Obama won.

It's really bad that the cable networks are so biased that their coverage is just a joke.

You should hear some of the talking heads on MSNBC. Obama didn't connect with "white, working class" voters.

And polls that have come out tonight have Obama winning the debate.

40% of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Barack Obama was the winner. 22% thought John McCain won. 38% saw it as a draw.

68% of these voters think Obama would make the right decision

about the economy. 41% think McCain would.

49% of these voters think Obama would make the right decisions about Iraq. 55% think McCain would.