Who won the debate?

[Eikon]

I just caught the last 10 minutes of it, so I really can't say who I think won. Obama is clearly the more eloquent speaker.. but I didn't catch enough to judge any content.

What did you guys think?

[Ghostdrifter88]

i think obama has a good plan for the economy.obama won IMOeven though it was about foreign affairs

[Urabus GodofTraction]

I've got to say, I was expecting more stuttering from McCain and less from Obama. I guess there's a reason why Obama doesn't want a town-hall style debate.

I've got to say, the key to winning debates is getting your opponent to agree with you. If that's the case, McCain had the upper hand.

It was a really, really close debate. This is, of course, a problem for McCain.

[APEXi240]

It was a really, really close debate. This is, of course, a problem for McCain.

I agree. I thought it was a very solid debate on the part of both candidates.

[Eikon]

It was a really, really close debate. This is, of course, a problem for McCain.

You guys think the debate being close hurts McCain? I guess my thought was that Obama was expected to be the master debater, and if McCain was close to him, that would mean Obama fell below expectation and that would be more harmful to him.

But perhaps McCain's deficit in the polls means that he HAS to win these debates to overcome Obama..

What do you guys think?

[wingFeather]

I don't care who "won". If this was the only concern, then anyone with Obama's bull****ting experience would win - instead of who is right for this country.

IMHO Obama made himself look like an idiot by refuting facts about his lousy record.

McCain made a good point at the end. We will need someone with experience healing country relations after a war. Also, that he needs no on-the-job training. Obama would need too much training for this four year run. Maybe the next four years he'd be ready... but not '08

[Urabus GodofTraction]

You guys think the debate being close hurts McCain? I guess my thought was that Obama was expected to be the master debater, and if McCain was close to him, that would mean Obama fell below expectation and that would be more harmful to him.

But perhaps McCain's deficit in the polls means that he HAS to win these debates to overcome Obama..

What do you guys think?

Your second comment follows my line of thinking. Well, not HAS to. All he needs is one comment in any of the debates to run with. He'll probably get one, I don't know why Obama's "bitter Americans clinging to their guns and their religion" hasn't been plastered over every inch of plasterable surface in the U.S.

[skylndrftr]

Actually McCain won...this morning...before he decided to come...according to his campaign ad.http://voices.washingtonpost.c....html [/joke]

very close. I would call it a tie. However I was really insulted by McCain's usage of "doesnt understand" McCain seems incapable of comprehending disagreement or debate, thats part of what got us to wear we are. What do I mean?

Terminology for disagreement:McCain: "Obama doesn't understand"Obama: "I disagree with John"

[APEXi240]

You guys think the debate being close hurts McCain? I guess my thought was that Obama was expected to be the master debater, and if McCain was close to him, that would mean Obama fell below expectation and that would be more harmful to him.

But perhaps McCain's deficit in the polls means that he HAS to win these debates to overcome Obama..

What do you guys think?

Partially your second comment, and partially the fact that this debate should have been McCain's strongest one, with his obviously superior foreign policy experience and expertise. Obama stuck pretty close to him though, he didn't really trip up on any questions.

[skylndrftr]

IMHO Obama made himself look like an idiot by refuting facts about his lousy record.

examples? John McCain's misstatements of Obama's record are not fact. Obama's record is fact. You should be shameful of McCain having to lie about the other candidate to make himself look good.

[APEXi240]

examples? John McCain's misstatements of Obama's record are not fact. Obama's record is fact. You should be shameful of McCain having to lie about the other candidate to make himself look good.

I agree with that in respect to McCain's statement about Obama not voting for funding of troops when Obama stated that he would not oppose such legislation. It was sneaky and somewhat foolish to simply omit the fact that he did not vote on it because of the lack of timetable that was in place. Simple omissions like that actually make McCain look foolish, not Obama having to defend such a comment.

It was a bad tactic on McCain's part...or is that a strategy...

[Rev_D21]

Fact checker found flaws in both but more so in McCain.

[Jesda]

We all lose.

[srellim234]

My wife (Republican) and I (Independent) watched it together on C-SPAN, then swithed rapidly between MSNBC and FoxNews to see how far off their closed-minded reviews were. While some people were very fair on both channels, Keith Olbermann (Democrat) and Sean Hannity (Republican) were so far twisting what was said to make their guy win by a landslide that it seemed they weren't even listening to the same debate.

Anyway, my wife and I pretty much reached the same conclusion. Obama held his own: McCain was stronger than we expected. Obama absolutely missed some really golden opportunities to "zing" McCain and probably lost by a very narrow margin.

[AZhitman]

I listened to it on radio - Thought both guys did a good job.

I got a little irritated with Obama going off-topic a couple times, esp when he just kept listing all the things he "wants to do", without specifics on HOW to do it.

But I'll give him this: He kept his cool and did a fine job.

I expected a not-so-great performance from Mac, and I was quite pleased with his work.

The "seal" zinger was awesome.

[HashiriyaS14]

They both did great.

Most viewer polls reported a narrow "win" from Obama, but I think this is due in some part to many people tuning out later, after the economic questions, as I think McCain was much better in the 2nd half than the first. I'd call it a solid draw.

So Biden came on TV and spoke after the debates, where the hell was Palin? They had to wheel Guiliani out there! What was that about? They should have had Biden and Palin side-by-side talking to Blitzer.

[nsrZ32]

I agree that it was a very close debate but would have to say the upper hand went to Obama. I'm anxiously awaiting the other presidential and vice presidental candidate debats.

So Biden came on TV and spoke after the debates, where the hell was Palin? They had to wheel Guiliani out there! What was that about? They should have had Biden and Palin side-by-side talking to Blitzer.

Exactly. How does a VP candidate decline the invite to be there? That's ridiculous. And her replacement? Guiliani? You've got to be kidding me. Made the republican camp look very unprepared.

[GrilledCheese33]

I think that they both did really good jobs. I watched the whole thing and was surprised. Obama agreed with McCain a bit too much and also saying "Thats not true John" didn't help him much during the debate. On the other side, I feel McCain spoke a bit too much about over spending, but hey, neither are perfect. I'd call it a draw. They have been so close throughout the race and now with this debate, I think the vp's might just be the influencing factor.

I can't wait until the Palin/Biden debate next Thursday. I think we are gonna see some favor towards the republican camp on that one.

[Jimefam]

They both did great.

Most viewer polls reported a narrow "win" from Obama, but I think this is due in some part to many people tuning out later, after the economic questions, as I think McCain was much better in the 2nd half than the first. I'd call it a solid draw.

So Biden came on TV and spoke after the debates, where the hell was Palin? They had to wheel Guiliani out there! What was that about? They should have had Biden and Palin side-by-side talking to Blitzer.

I thought the debate was pretty even and to me that is a solid win for obama as mccain needed to flex his muscle on his best subject. As for palin, obviously you didn't watch her break down with couric. She was awful, she kept stammering meaningless sentences. It is very obvious that she is not yet prepared to handle these types of questions. I am so looking forward to her debate with biden that i'm tivoing it cause i'm pretty sure it'll be a shi**y night for her.

[96Qowner]

I thought it was the best political debate I've seen in decades. They actually debated! Usually, these affairs are so massaged that they only amount to 2 people taking turns reading position papers. It took Lehrer a few attempts before he got them responding directly to each other, but once they got going, they kept it up quite nicely. This was very much like the town hall meeting format that McCain wanted.

I thought McCain won narrowly, but when it was over, I switched back and forth between FOX and CNN (no sense in watching MSNBC), and the post-polling and the focus group and real-time knob-turning folks gave the win to Obama by a healthy margin - disappointing. CNN also made the point that most people didn't stay glued to the TV for the entire time, so when they later read that polls say Obama won, they'll agree and the win will be exaggerated.

So, while I disagree, so far (haven't checked the other forums or seen the complete polling yet) it appears the electorate feels Obama won.

McCain was not as quick on his feet as he could have been. Obama left a huge opening when Lehrer asking them what the $700 Billion bailout would do to their economic plans. Obama kept talking about his planned "investments" while McCain simply reiterated that he wants to cut government, and just wouldn't stop talking about earmarks. Obama successfully belittled that by pointing out that earmarks only amount to $18 billion/yr. "Investments", Obama? No mention of what taxing the rich would do to job creation, either. C'mon. If we need to account for an additional $700 billion, then Obama is surely gonna have to raise taxes OR cut his "investment" proposals. But McCain didn't take the opportunity to pin him down on that. -1 for debate technique on McCain's part.

I think McCain's years of speaking in the Senate hurts his political campaign rhetoric. The Senate is a very polite body, unlike the House. You speak TO the chair ABOUT a fellow Senator, never directly TO the Senator. You don't use inflammatory language. McCain is an old guy, and old guys aren't much into cheap shots and pointed embarrassing barbs. There were several times when I wanted McCain to simply laugh at the ridiculous things Obama had said. He had a couple ("oh, please" and "you just don't say that out loud" and "that's just dangerous') but he could have taken Obama apart a couple times, and just didn't have the natural instinct to do it.

I thought he won, but it doesn't matter what I thought. It appears the electorate thought Obama won. So be it. *sigh*

[marlin29311]

I listened to it on radio - Thought both guys did a good job.

I got a little irritated with Obama going off-topic a couple times, esp when he just kept listing all the things he "wants to do", without specifics on HOW to do it.

But I'll give him this: He kept his cool and did a fine job.

I expected a not-so-great performance from Mac, and I was quite pleased with his work.

The "seal" zinger was awesome.

I agree 100% - I'm sick of Obama saying "I have a plan to....<insert plan here>" and never talking about what he is going to do! Some of the stuff he says are good ideas, but he has no backing for them.

I know the left is all about how McCain talks about his experience and how Obama is for change and that's better, but as I recall, many times history repeats itself and is a driving factor in what is going to happen in the future. Your future is based off your past - McCain has the knowledge of what has happened for the past 25+ years in the Government, Obama doesn't.

I'm giving a slight edge to McCain for this reason. I could go on stage to say that I have a plan to buy everyone in the nation a new Nissan (shameless plug NiCo!) all day long, but in the end, can I? No way Jose...I'd like to hear more about the "plans" before I even start to consider Obama as a viable candidate for the Presidentcy.

[Jesda]

The retards stood there agreeing with each other on how to spend more of our money, only disagreeing on implementation details.

That was, by far, the worst presidential debate I have ever seen.

McCain won on foreign policy. Obama won on domestic issues.

You and I? We lose.

[Jimefam]

Marlin it is impossible for either candidate to go into details about their plans. Both candidates know this and use it to twist the other guys position around. If you really want to know about either candidates plans I suggest you go on their website and get informed. These are complicated matters that are impossible to explain in a 2 minute debate format.

[96Qowner]

Here are early poll results:

CBS Insta Poll shows Barack Obama won 39% to John McCain's 25% with 36% saying the debate was a draw.

Insider Advantage reports of those polled Obama won 42% to McCain's 41% with Undecided 17%

CNN reports voter opinions that Obama "did better" 51%, McCain "did better" 38%

The CNN poll showed men were evenly split, but women gave Obama higher marks 59% to 41% for McCain.

The CNN pollster noted a slight Democratic bias in the survey. Well, there just are more Democrats in the country. So more Democrats watched. However, this may also suggest Democratic enthusiasm which will help turn out the vote.

The MSNBC on-line (non-scientific) poll showed Obama winning the debate 52% to 33%. (But this is what one would expect from such a poll at MSNBC because of the nature of its viewers.)

MediaCurves.com reported Independents favored Obama overall 61% to 38%. (I do not know this organization or know how it conducts polls, so take results with a couple of grains of salt.)

http://voices.kansascity.com/node/2208

[srellim234]

We talked about it again at the breakfast table this morning, having slept on it. While my wife and I still think it was close, the underlying reason we gave the nod to McCain last night was because our expectations of him were so low that he came off much better than we expected. Likewise, we expected Obama to capitalize on what we saw as obvious opportunities that McCain presented to him and were disappointed in his failure to do so.

[HashiriyaS14]

So no McCain supporters care to comment on why Palin was NOWHERE TO BE SEEN after the debates?

Biden versus Guiliani? WTF.

Was there a moose that urgently needed hunting?

[96Qowner]

Heheh, we all know why Sarah wasn't in the spin room.

Let's just wait for her debate on Thursday, then we can make our judgment.

[nsrZ32]

Was there a moose that urgently needed hunting?

I find this expecially hilarious because it is the exact statement uttered by my elderly mother this morning while we were dicussing the debate over breakfast. Apparently its not just Hash and myself who feel she should have been there.

[Urabus GodofTraction]

So no McCain supporters care to comment on why Palin was NOWHERE TO BE SEEN after the debates?

Biden versus Guiliani? WTF.

Was there a moose that urgently needed hunting?

Because Biden is going to eat her alive. He's a lying snake, but a smooth, well-spoken one.

[Jimefam]

Because Biden is going to eat her alive. He's a lying snake, but a smooth, well-spoken one.

your kidding right??? Biden "smooth and well-spoken"??? That man has said more things he wishes he could take back then mccain and obama combined. He is a regular guy and that cost him abit. Still he is far more knowledgeable then Palin and should do well against her. No one crushes anyone in these debates but Palin might just self-destruct.