Second debate: McCain v Obama

[cyberianpan]

Tomorrow night , 9 pm ET so that's 2am our time, here's some excerpts from a Washington Post preview article:

WP

SEDONA, Ariz., Oct. 5 -- In one of the most beautiful spots on the globe, Sen. John McCain spent much of Saturday holed up in a dark hotel conference room, engaged in intense debate preparation.


In the words of one campaign aide, Obama will seek Tuesday to continue his efforts to present himself as a "very pragmatic, non-ideological and very even-keeled" politician, one who can be trusted to take over the country at a time of uncertainty abroad and at home.

This official said McCain is looking forward to the debate because he likes the freewheeling town hall format, and he expects it to focus on the candidates' economic plans.

Gibbs, the Obama strategist, said that any personal or character-based attacks from McCain would be complicated by the style of the debate, in which the candidates will take questions posed by audience members and, through moderator Tom Brokaw of NBC, from people online.

"I think they've announced they want people to forget about the economy and talk about Barack Obama," Gibbs said. "I think that's very dangerous and very hard in a debate where you are taking questions from real people."

Karl Rove has said he doesn't believe McCain needs a knockout... McCain team says it will be on the issues - McCain is a bit more charming/folksy than Obama - so a townhall suits him. Will Obama be able to connect with the voters ?

cYp

[jfk2008]

Obama doesn't do folksy, but he can do plain talking as seen from the last debate.

He still has a tendency to use more complex language and give answers that aren't pithy enough.

Obviously this is one of the main areas that his coaching team will be concentrating on.

McCain isn't exactly invulnerable to character attacks either:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/us...bling-web.html

[TheJudge]

I think McCain needs a knockout to stop the momentum Obama has built up. I don't think he will get one.

[cyberianpan]

It will be difficult for McCain to go on the attack as the questions come from voters so he has less latitude to go off topic (you can ignore a Moderator but not Joe Soap).

Body language should be more fun as this time they've stools and are free to roam the stage.

Also this debate will have higher viewership as it is a Tuesday - McCain needs something amazing but I'm not sure that I see anything that works.

cYp

[draiocht23]

Obama doesn't do folksy, but he can do plain talking as seen from the last debate.

He still has a tendency to use more complex language and give answers that aren't pithy enough.

Obviously this is one of the main areas that his coaching team will be concentrating on.

McCain isn't exactly invulnerable to character attacks either:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/us...bling-web.html

No, he just prefaces every sentence with "folks"..not to mention his use of it as a preposition and for punctuation.

Maureen Dowd had a good piece in the NY Times about Palin's love of mangling the language.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/op...05dowd.html?em

[Squire Allworthy]

Even if McCain wins this debate by a mile he has no chance of winning this election unless he can win resoundingly on matters relating to the economy. He would have been better positioned if he had come out against the Bill and placed himself well and truely in the sceptical camp. That way he could at least say look I said the deal would not work, we have just wasted 700 billion.......... OK it is coming out against Bush but so what.

Anyway 4 years of Obama should be interesting.

[FutureTaoiseach]

The town-hall format favours McCain. A turning point perhaps?

[Defeated Romanticist]

Even if McCain wins this debate by a mile he has no chance of winning this election unless he can win resoundingly on matters relating to the economy. He would have been better positioned if he had come out against the Bill and placed himself well and truely in the sceptical camp. That way he could at least say look I said the deal would not work, we have just wasted 700 billion.......... OK it is coming out against Bush but so what.

Anyway 4 years of Obama should be interesting.

Two words, "Jimmy" and "Carter"

Two more words, "crash" and "burn"

He'll do for black politicians what Buchanan did for gay ones.

[FakeViking]

Two words, "Jimmy" and "Carter"

Two more words, "crash" and "burn"

He'll do for black politicians what Buchanan did for gay ones.

Reading that post, the two words "Brain" and "Empty" are what comes to hand!

[hiding behind a poster]

The town-hall format favours McCain. A turning point perhaps?

Perhaps not.