General

Macleans.ca liveblog – American President Debate Round 3

  • 5:17 PM Macleans.ca – We’ll be liveblogging McCain vs. Obama right here at 9 PM EST tonight. See you then.
  • 8:13 PM Scott Feschuk – i’m watching the pre-game show on CNN and i have alarming news: david gergen’s combover is horribly out of place. makeup to pundits’ row: STAT!! Also: CNN has split up their “best political team on television” – partisan commentators at one table of six, and non-partisan pundits at another table of six. and in between them: only anderson cooper and a moat filled with sharks with lasers on their heads.
  • 8:15 PM Scott Feschuk – missing in action: james carville. rumour has it he’s been bought by a kid in iowa who wants to go out for halloween as a skeleton.
  • 8:36 PM Scott Feschuk – i’ve decided what i want for christmas – i want a magic board like john king has on cnn. i’ll use it to offer expert analysis of future family disputes. “Sorry, son, i’d love to let you borrow the car but, as you can see up here, you’re experiencing a softness in the parental trust sector – and if we zoom in over here you’ll notice a 6% increase in how often we think your friends are stoned.”
  • 8:54 PM Scott Feschuk – it’s almost time for the third and final U.S. presidential debate. They’ve stood behind podiums! They’ve stood without podiums! Tonight, they sit!! (A proposed fourth debate was canceled on account of neither candidate being able to crouch for 90 minutes.)
  • 9:04 PM Scott Feschuk – we begin with john mccain’s traditional hospital update. first debate: ted kennedy. tonight: nancy reagan. tomorrow: mccain’s presidential hopes.
  • 9:08 PM Scott Feschuk – is it just me… is it my HD tv… but does barack obama have a bit of a moustache going on? definitely a five o’clock ‘stache shadow. he looks like sarah palin on the cover of newsweek. or nixon, but less moist.
  • 9:10 PM Paul Wells – hi!
  • 9:11 PM Scott Feschuk – you’ve been missing the gripping tale of joe the plumber! they’ve already mentioned him 93 times.
  • 9:11 PM Paul Wells – So I’m just like the average American. I missed the top of the debate because I was on TV. But whereas the average American was on So You Think You Can Dance, I was on The Agenda. Which is too bad because I have killer salsa moves.
  • 9:12 PM Scott Feschuk – i expect mccain to start talking about paul the dancer at any moment
  • 9:12 PM Paul Wells – Is Joe the Plumber Polish? In France they were very worried about Polish plumbers. Anyway. Already I’m amazed at how pokey these debates are compared to our action-packed Canadian debates.
  • 9:14 PM Scott Feschuk – i watched the first debate at harvard, at the kennedy school. people cheered and booed there. plus there was beer. only during the second debate did i realize that these things are less engaging when not treated like professional wrestling.
  • 9:16 PM Paul Wells – Obama’s using the old magical Programs That Don’t Work trick. It’s just always harder to find those programs in power than it was going to be when you were in opposition. I checked. There is no Department of Programs That Don’t Work that you can shut down.
  • 9:17 PM Scott Feschuk – the best thing about this debate so far is the cutaways – they just showed john mccain scibbling some notes on a pad of paper. i guess when you reach his age, you just can’t control your impulse to write a letter to the editor.
  • 9:18 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Have you noticed that this time McCain is making a point of actually looking at Obama. It looked pretty strange last time when he seemed to avoid looking at him.
  • 9:19 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – McCain’s best line to date: “Why would you want to increase _anyone’s_ taxes right now?”
  • 9:20 PM Scott Feschuk – mccain begins an awful lot of sentences by saying “i know how to..” he knows how to save billions of dollars. he knows how to win the war. he knows the caramilk secret. why has john mccain been keeping these answers to himself all these years? america could be rich and at peace by now, and much better informed about how chocolate bars are made.
  • 9:21 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Senator Obama, I am not president Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago. Oh snap.
  • 9:21 PM Paul Wells – McCain was really good on ethanol subsidies. His position against them helped him lose the primaries in 2000. He’s so not good on earmarks and subsidies because his running mate never met an earmark she didn’t like in Alaska.
  • 9:22 PM Paul Wells – He could even have said, “I know run against Bush. I did run against Bush. And Senator, you’re not run against Bush.” But come to think of it, I kind of understand why he didn’t.
  • 9:22 PM Scott Feschuk – yeah, the bush line was good. it helped that he was looking at obama. it’s less helpful that his voting record IS president bush. plus he totally hugged him that one weird time.
  • 9:23 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – The Obama campaign has just sent out a blast email citing various articles saying that the vast majority of small businesses would not be affected by Obama’s tax increase on people earning over $250K.
  • 9:24 PM Paul Wells – This is the obligatory I’m a Pariah in my Party portion of the program. Musical accompaniment by Sister Souljah.
  • 9:24 PM Scott Feschuk – i just received an email saying i’ve won the irish lottery. third time this week. take that, wall street.
  • 9:25 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – McCain likes to criticize Obama for not standing up to his own party. Prior to the debate, the McCain campaign sent out this exchange with an Obama surrogate on a blast email: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews: “We’ve watched John McCain over the years do things like Patients’ Bill of Rights, the McCain-Feingold reform bill. A number of cases where he has been able to reach across the aisle and get things done, even with Kennedy and Edwards and people like that, Feingold, people like that on the Democratic side. Can you give me a case where Barack Obama has reached across the aisle and cut a deal and gotten something done for the country? One example.”

    Governor David Paterson: “Well, Senator Obama has been there two years and I can’t cite an example right now. But I know that did he collaborate with one of Republican senators on one of the issues. I just can’t name it off the top — ”

  • 9:26 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – However, raising it in the debate allows Obama to counter it with examples of not agreeing with Democratic constituencies such as trial lawyers, teachers unions, etc.
  • 9:26 PM Paul Wells – Oh this will be interesting. The Say It To My Face book, so to speak
  • 9:26 PM Scott Feschuk – bob schieffer is scolding both of them for being very bad boys in playing out behind the shed with that negative adve
    rtising
  • 9:26 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – McCain is basically saying if we had sat down to do more town halls together, my campaign would have been nicer to you…
  • 9:27 PM Scott Feschuk – i never understood that argument – because you wouldn’t sit down with me 400 times, i guess i have no choice but to call you a dick repeatedly.
  • 9:28 PM Paul Wells – It’s kind of breathtaking that McCain is playing the wounded innocent here. There’s some serious denial going on. It would be a stretch to say “we’re both guilty of excesses.” It’s astonishing that he’s falling back on “why are you mean to me?”
  • 9:28 PM Scott Feschuk – he still thinks he’s a good guy. he doesn’t realize he’s been part of his own campaign these last five months
  • 9:28 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – He’s calling on Obama to repudiate comments by John Lewis, a Georgia congressman and civil rights leader. Let’s see if he does it.
  • 9:31 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Some of Obama’s ads have been stupid too. Like the Spanish language ad that associated McCain with Rush Limbaugh’s comments on immigration. Please. Limbaugh was brutal to McCain over his support for immigration reform. He was in the “anyone but McCain” camp during the Republican primary.
  • 9:32 PM Paul Wells – There’s about 20 ways to handle McCain’s John Lewis gambit. One would be to take the bait and repudiate Lewis. Another would be, I repudiate the thing this guy said. Now I need you to disown the attacks that have come from your own mouth on these three issues. Obama tried a third way: get off recrimination and onto (entirely bland pap about) real economic issues.
  • 9:33 PM Paul Wells – And now Obama’s returning to option A, Take The Bait. Because he’s really not a great debater.
  • 9:33 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – From the Atlanta Journal Constitution article on the Lewis comments: On Saturday, Lewis rocked the presidential campaign with his statement that McCain and Palin “are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.

    “During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate.”

    In the statement, Lewis linked Wallace’s language to the1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four little girls.

    McCain immediately called Lewis’ remarks “beyond the pale” and called on Obama to repudiate them. The Republican presidential candidate continued to fume on Monday. “It’s unfair. It’s unfair and it’s outrageous,” McCain told CNN.

    The Obama campaign said any comparisons to Wallace were out of line, but also said that “Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked.”

  • 9:35 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Obama complains that Palin has said he pals around with terrorists. McCain responds that there are “fringe” people at all his political rallies.
  • 9:35 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Did I miss something?
  • 9:36 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Here we go: Bill Ayers.
  • 9:37 PM Scott Feschuk – i’m not sure why obama goes into such detail in dismissing the ayers thing. it makes it feel more substantial.
  • 9:38 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – McCain says Acorn (a voter registration group) is “destroying the fabric of democracy.” Some of their people have registered Mickey Mouse among others. Butt is it voter fraud until Mickey Mouse actually votes?
  • 9:38 PM Paul Wells – They could get rid of Mickey Mouse voter fraud by requiring thumbprints because I’m almost sure he can’t get those three-finger white gloves off.
  • 9:40 PM Scott Feschuk – i’ll tell you one thing – uncle scrooge will be damned if he’s going to stand for that obama tax hike. so it could all even out in the end.
  • 9:40 PM Scott Feschuk – obama keeps making the “i’m still winning, right?” face
  • 9:41 PM Scott Feschuk – for those who want to try it at home: grin, look away, nod…
  • 9:41 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Why would the country be better off if YOUR running mate became president? Obama says Biden has always been fightin’ for working families. Nothing like watching a former president of the Harvard Law Review drop his ‘g’s.
  • 9:42 PM Paul Wells – In Ottawa I’ve been callin’ that the Ignatieff Gambit.
  • 9:43 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – McCain says Palin is a role model for women all across America. Except for Tina Fey, that is.
  • 9:44 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – McCain is now going for the Autism vote.
  • 9:45 PM Paul Wells – And it’s SO hard to get their attention.
  • 9:45 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Obama doesn’t want to say that Palin is not qualified to be president.
  • 9:45 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Also — you wanna talk Autism? That will take funding …. and you want the across-the-board spending cuts?
  • 9:46 PM Scott Feschuk – but it doesn’t cost anything just to SAY it. does it?
  • 9:46 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – McCain says Biden had a “cockamamie” (sp?) idea for dividing Iraq into three countries.
  • 9:46 PM Paul Wells – You’re probably right on how Obama doesn’t want to say Palin isn’t qualified, Luiza, but it’s part of why politics still confuses me so often. If George Will and David Frum don’t think Palin is qualified to be president, why can’t Obama say it?
  • 9:46 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – You sexist!
  • 9:47 PM Scott Feschuk – that was a really disappointing exchange on palin. obama is playing it waaaaay safe.
  • 9:47 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Bob Schieffer is in favour of “climate control.”
  • 9:47 PM Paul Wells – Ah. I’ve learned so much.
  • 9:47 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – THE CANADIANS!
  • 9:48 PM Scott Feschuk – bob schieffer can control the weather. finally – this debate has a story!
  • 9:48 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – He calls Obama on suggesting he’d unilaterally renegotiate NAFTA..
  • 9:49 PM Scott Feschuk – halfway point – on balance i’d say mccain is doing better than at any point in the first two debates. meanwhile, obama is playing the kind of defence that forced basketball to implement the shot clock.
  • 9:50 PM Paul Wells – I think it’s an interesting gambit on McCain’s part to demonstrate financial expertise by wearing Mr. Potter’s banker suit from It’s A Wonderful Life.
  • 9:50 PM Scott Feschuk – but no flag pin! maybe he’s such a patriot that he affixed it
    directly to his heart.
  • 9:51 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Drill baby drill
  • 9:51 PM Paul Wells – The uncommitted Ohio voters loved it when Obama got all protectionist there.
  • 9:52 PM Scott Feschuk – so did i. i long to be sheltered.
  • 9:54 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – I may have mentioned this in a previous debate blog, but I found it interesting during my trip to a swing county in Ohio to speak with a women in a beauty school who had lost her job at a paper mill and was retraining as a hairdresser thanks to a government funded program. She was against free trade but was voting for McCain because she didn’t like Barack Hussein Obama’s middle name.
  • 9:56 PM Paul Wells – That was a great piece. I like those kinds of expanded streeters where reporters camp out somewhere for a while and let people talk about how they see politics and how it relates to their lives. I’ve never been good at doing those pieces because real people scare me, but they help people understand politics and region a lot better.
  • 9:57 PM Scott Feschuk – at this point, aren’t you all feeling disappointed that you didn’t get to spend all summer watching “debates” like these as mccain proposed, he asked sarcastically.
  • 9:57 PM Paul Wells – Obama’s looking right at me!
  • 9:58 PM Scott Feschuk – look away – he’s trying to steal your soul!
  • 9:58 PM Paul Wells – He’s an Arab.
  • 9:58 PM Paul Wells – No?
  • 9:58 PM Scott Feschuk – no, no. nope. nosiree. just a terrorist.
  • 9:59 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Thank you. It was a fascinating trip. My conclusion from that is that many “undecided” voters are basically social conservatives whose parents were Democrats because they worked unionized blue collar jobs, and they have lots of economic problems. … I wish debate moderators could craft questions in such a way that the answer can’t be “both.
  • 10:00 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Free yoga for everyone.
  • 10:00 PM Scott Feschuk – sarah palin’s influence on this campaign is now complete. this “joe the plumber” thing has GOT to be her idea. five bucks says that before this is over, mccain winks at joe.
  • 10:00 PM Paul Wells – What I really need to look away from is the dial-group stuff at the bottom. of the screen. Look at that! The Ohio women HATE the folksy Joe-the-plumber references.
  • 10:01 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – McCain claiming that Obama will fine people who don’t buy healthcare. That was Obama’s critique of Clinton’s plan. As I understand it, Obama wants a mandate to cover children. For low income people, he wants to offer a subsidy.
  • 10:01 PM Scott Feschuk – yeah, he blew that one.
  • 10:02 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Clinton had wanted a mandate to cover everyone.
  • 10:02 PM Paul Wells – McCain is preparing some kind of zinger. He looks like the cat that’s ABOUT to eat the canary.
  • 10:03 PM Scott Feschuk – he’s been asked by the FCC to not show his teeth when he smiles. scares a certain segment of the american population – those with vision
  • 10:04 PM Scott Feschuk – now obama is making the “i’m about to tear you a new one” face – pursed lips, clenched jaw
  • 10:04 PM Paul Wells – Okay that was kind of cute. Obama imagined Joe into a convenient income bracket, so McCain just imagined him into the inconvenient bracket.
  • 10:05 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Did McCain just call Obama, Senator Government…?
  • 10:05 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – that’s kind of funny.
  • 10:06 PM Paul Wells – Joe the Plumber is a rock star tonight. These two guys are actually spending more time talking to an imaginary friend than the kid in the hotel with the Big Wheel did in The Shining.
  • 10:06 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – In high def, Obama has a moustache and it’s getting darker as the night goes on.
  • 10:07 PM Scott Feschuk – EDILSDNAL! EDILSDNAL!!
  • 10:08 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – John McCain will not impose a Roe v Wade litmus test on Supreme Court appointees. He’s going for the independents here.
  • 10:09 PM Paul Wells – McCain should ask Obama whether he’d name Hillary Clinton to the Court. I think. Shouldn’t he ask that?
  • 10:10 PM Scott Feschuk – i think it’s a given, paul. she either gets that or her own sitcom.
  • 10:10 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Except back in 2000, McCain said he WOULD have a Roe v. Wade litmus test:
  • 10:11 PM Scott Feschuk – yes but back in 2000, mccain had a set of principles. and a set of balls.
  • 10:11 PM Luiza Ch. Savage –
    McCain beat George W. Bush in New Hampshire, in a nineteen-point upset, but the storybook campaign ended when the Bush machine retaliated, in the infamous South Carolina primary. McCain had hoped that South Carolina’s large veteran population would help him win there; but the Christian Coalition, deeply entrenched in the state, became the decisive constituency. Somewhat surprisingly, McCain had the support of Gary Bauer, the social conservative, who had dropped out of the race by that time. “I wanted a commitment from either George Bush or John McCain that if elected he would appoint pro-life judges to the Supreme Court,” Bauer told me. “Bush said he had no litmus test, and his judges would be strict constructionists. But McCain, in private, assured me he would appoint pro-life judges.” ttp://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/05/30/050530fa_fact_bruck?currentPage=3
  • 10:12 PM Scott Feschuk – wow, you’re fast. can you find me a recipe for lemon meringue pie?
  • 10:13 PM Scott Feschuk – i am reliably informed by email that no one got my Shining joke.
  • 10:14 PM Paul Wells – I just thought it was so good I wouldn’t bother to top it, Mrs. Torrance.
  • 10:15 PM Scott Feschuk – mccain uses a huge pen – one of those thick sharpies. discuss.
  • 10:16 PM Paul Wells – Those are the best in prison fights. What are our ground rules here? Should I be ignoring he dial-group stuff? I’m fascinated by the reactions.
  • 10:17 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Here is the original exchange between Obama and the real Joe the Plumberr:
  • 10:17 PM Scott Feschuk – yeah, luiza and i were shocked by some of the dial reactions during the VP debate – especially the way ohio women loved biden and hated palin. i’m not convinced the rea
    ctions matter much in the end though.
  • 10:18 PM Scott Feschuk – ie people dial down on attack moments, because they’re told by the media they’re supposed to not like that stuff. but do they really not like it?
  • 10:20 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Here is a link to a running fact check of the debate:
  • 10:20 PM Scott Feschuk – prison fights. that’s funny.
  • 10:20 PM Paul Wells – In our immense post-election piece in tomorrow’s edition of the magazine, I look at some Ekos polling after the Canadian leaders’ debates. Ekos found a substantial difference between who the voters identified as “winners” (i.e. really not Dion) and who benefitted most in voting intention changes (i.e. Dion, although he turned out to be unable to capitalize on it). I took it to mean that people don’t watch debates to find good debaters. They watch debates to find, among the various good and bad debaters, somebody who looks like a good leader.
  • 10:22 PM Paul Wells – Which would explain why Obama hasn’t simply been ejected from the campaign for being such a noodge in the debates.
  • 10:24 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Here is redstate.com going after Obama on “infanticide.”
  • 10:25 PM Scott Feschuk – he does seem very calm and leadery. i’m sure the parties will all be keen to read your piece, paul, because they spend so much bloody time and effort getting ready for the debates. it would be pretty hysterical if they were preparing all wrong, or even slightly wrong.
  • 10:26 PM Scott Feschuk – the split screen shots do no favour to mccain. the man blinks with a frequency that would humble the wings of a hummingbird.
  • 10:27 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Wow, Michelle Rhee — our local school chancellor — made her way into the debate. Does she support vouchers in addition to charter schools? The unique thing about the voucher system in DC is that public schools didn’t lose funding, as far as I understand. There was just extra money pumped in to fund the vouchers that allow some poor kids to go to private schools.
  • 10:28 PM Scott Feschuk – to me, that didn’t feel like the winning moment that mccain clearly thought it was.
  • 10:29 PM Paul Wells – He’s so much more impressive during any minute that does not feature him naming Sarah Palin as his running mate.
  • 10:29 PM Scott Feschuk – ok, quick pool. forecast the results of the cnn post-debate who-won poll, which usually comes in about a half-hour after the debate: i say obama 54 mcain 46
  • 10:31 PM Paul Wells – 55-45 Obama. Don’t think they were that far apart in their performance but I think on balance, voters have decided which of the two they prefer to hear from.
  • 10:32 PM Scott Feschuk – it was mccain’s best effort but the die is cast, unless bill ayers comes on stage now to hug and kiss obama.
  • 10:33 PM Paul Wells – The wives actually wear gang colours. It’s a great country. Could they not get actual sandwich boards that said I’M WITH THE REPUBLICAN and I’M WITH THE DEMOCRAT?
  • 10:33 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – I agree with Scott. Also, best debate of the campaign — which isn’t saying much
    .
  • 10:34 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – The big question now is who will get the first interview with the real Joe the Plumber.
  • 10:34 PM Paul Wells – I like Bill Bennett’s gold tie. I used to wear one just like it to National Post parties.
  • 10:34 PM Scott Feschuk – the way mccain’s luck is going, the media will find joe wearing an obama t-shirt
  • 10:35 PM Scott Feschuk – there were national post parties???
  • 10:35 PM Paul Wells – Oops. never mind.
  • 10:35 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Begala just said the reaction shots made McCain look like “Grumpy McNasty.””
  • 10:36 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – On Fox News, William Kristol is complaining that McCain let Obama say he would cut taxes. He says Republicans have to say that “no matter what the Democrat says, he will raise your taxes.”
  • 10:37 PM Scott Feschuk – bill kristol – sarah palin’s last fan standing.

    btw, i’d keep watching this analysis til midnight if they voted one pundit off the set every ten minutes.

  • 10:37 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Now my friend Nina Easton of Fortune and Brit Hume are arguing over whether John McCain’s reference to Obama as “Senator Government” was a slip of the tongue or not.
  • 10:38 PM Paul Wells – It doesn’t quite have the ring to it that Biden’s “Barack America” had, but one suspects it’ll have legs in the blogosphere.
  • 10:39 PM Scott Feschuk – if it was an accident, it was still mccain’s best line
  • 10:39 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – There appears to be an air of disappointment among the Fox News panel. McCain should have been tougher on Obama over abortion, he should have painted him as a bigger liberal, raised Rev. Jeremiah Wright, etc.
  • 10:40 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Over on CNN, they’re calling this McCain’s best performance.
  • 10:40 PM Scott Feschuk – fox news is apparently unaware that conservatives cannot vote twice – they need to win people over
  • 10:41 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – On MSNBC, Chris Matthews gives the debate to Obama. Andrea Mitchell thinks Obama scored points with suburban independent female voters with Roe v. Wade.
  • 10:42 PM Scott Feschuk – that’s impressive. i’ve tried to score points with suburban females and it’s not as easy as it looks.
  • 10:43 PM Luiza Ch. Savage –
    Hah. Maybe you need Oprah to endorse you.
  • 10:43 PM Paul Wells – I think I’m gonna bail, folks. I was up late writing our post-election piece, and then up later thinking of suave ways to drop plugs for it into completely unrelated liveblogs.
  • 10:43 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – From the McCain campaign press office: ARLINGTON, VA — McCain-Palin 2008 Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker issued the following statement on tonight’s Presidential Debate:

    “John McCain won tonight’s debate with strong, clear straight talk about setting a new direction for our country and fighting for working families. He outlined a specific, bold plan for creating jobs, helping those near retirement, keeping people in their homes, curbing spending, lowering health care costs and achieving energy independence. He vowed to fight for ‘Joe the Plumber’ every day he is President and he affirmed his belief that we shouldn’t raise
    taxes just to ‘spread the wealth.’ While Barack Obama is measuring the drapes and campaigning against a man not even on the ballot, John McCain demonstrated that he has the experience, judgment, independence and courage to fight for every American.”

  • 10:43 PM Scott Feschuk – good night, you shameless huckster
  • 10:44 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Can’t wait to read it all!
  • 10:44 PM Paul Wells – Also I’m off to a National Post par- uh, never mind. Cheers all.
  • 10:44 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – From the Obama campaign: “We came into the debate with two thirds of the American people thinking that John McCain is running a negative campaign, and Senator McCain spent 90 minutes trying to convince the other third. Once again, Barack Obama won a clear victory because he made the case for change for the middle class, while John McCain just had angry and negative attacks. Barack Obama showed the steady leadership that the American people need, and offered specific plans on the issues that matter to the middle class – creating jobs, cutting health care costs, building a new energy policy, and getting our economy moving. Senator McCain said that George Bush isn’t on the ballot, but he couldn’t name a single way that his economic policies will be any different. This was John McCain’s last chance for a game-changer, and he didn’t get it,” said Obama-Biden campaign manager David Plouffe.
  • 10:46 PM Scott Feschuk – to sum up: the only real winner tonight was joe the plumber – business is going to be through the roof. everyone is going to want to hire joe the plumber.
  • 10:49 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Yes, now we can all go back to worrying about the Dow.
  • 10:49 PM Luiza Ch. Savage – Have a great night everyone. I am signing off.
  • 10:49 PM Scott Feschuk – but not joe the plumber! joe the plumber has NO worries.
  • 10:50 PM Scott Feschuk – see ya! good night all

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