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12:30 p.m. ET: The debate is now only hours away, which means our televisions and Internet caches are full of suggestions for "What McCain/Obama Needs to Do Tonight..."
Well, The Rundown would like to hear what YOU think they "need to do," so deposit your suggestions in the comments section below. To get the discussion started, here's our own list:
For McCain:
DO make eye contact with Obama, and refuse to blink first.
DON’T wander around the stage while Obama is talking
DO bring up William Ayers, but do so in a way that makes it sound like you’re not, or that Obama made you do it. Shows that you're a leader.
DON’T bring up Jeremiah Wright, because that would be wrong (and because Palin’s already doing it).
DO say Obama has voted for higher taxes, but only 54 times, not 94.
DON’T say the names of any foreign countries or leaders. This is the domestic policy debate. Say “credit default swaps” or “Neel Kashkari” instead.
For Obama:
DO go over your allotted time, even if Schieffer gets irritated. You’re the frontrunner. You can do whatever you want.
DON’T say Ayers is just some guy you met once, or that you were only 8 years old in the ‘60s. Makes you sound too young for Florida voters.
DO sound sincere if you compliment McCain for his service.
DON’T say he’s “likable enough.”
DO thank heaven that you opted out of public financing, and McCain didn’t (but DON’T say that out loud).
DON’T admit that you’ll have to cut any programs or priorities if you become president. Everything is going to be great.
8 a.m, ET: It's Debate Day once again, the 87th (approximately) and final one of this marathon presidential campaign, and John McCain faces a choice tonight.
When the two candidates meet at Hofstra University, McCain must decide whether, and how much, to attack Barack Obama. One one hand, he could finally bring up the subject of William Ayers -- or even the verboten Rev. Wright -- as a way to question Obama's judgment, and because nothing else seemed to work well in the first two debates. On the other hand, McCain's poll numbers have gone down as his ratio of negative campaigning has gone up, with the majority of voters now seeing Obama as the guy talking issues while McCain is on the attack.
The latest evidence of that dynamic is the new New York Times/CBS News poll, which gives Obama a whopping 14-point lead among likely voters and shows that respondents think McCain has been "attacking" more than "explaining" by a 2-to-1 margin. (Elsewhere on the polling front today, LAT/Bloomberg has Obama up 9, while the latest Zogby track has the Democrat up just 4.)
Many conservatives believe that McCain's only way up is to attack Obama, and do what has only been done mostly by Sarah Palin to this point. But then McCain also risks being accused -- fairly or not -- of playing the "race card" and sullying his reputation in what will likely be the last campaign of his career.
Either way, tonight's session will be focused on domestic policy, meaning that there will (likely) be no mention of Waziristan. There certainly will be lots of economic talk and a debate over the two candidates' mortgage rescue plans and the Bush administration's bank bailout.
Now, a quick update to The Rundown's favorite story: It turns out that Tim Mahoney, the freshman Democrat already battling allegations that he paid off a former mistress and staffer to keep her quiet, may have been having another affair with another woman at the same time as the first affair. Is it too late to get Mahoney into tonight's debate?
By
Ben Pershing
|
October 15, 2008; 8:00 AM ET
Go to full archive for The Rundown »
Posted by: ilvoter | October 15, 2008 11:06 AM
So if McCain relies on Mrs. Palin for his attacks on Obama and has HER bring up Ayers, is it OK then to question her about her connections to the Alaska Independence Party and its leaders who want Alaska to secede from the US? After all Mr. Vogler, the head of the AIP and Palin friend, has said some pretty disturbing things when he expresses his hate for the USA.
Posted by: Clint | October 15, 2008 11:17 AM
It does not look that McCain could do anything or say anything to win over Obama, as all odds are against him now.
Posted by: aepelbaum | October 15, 2008 11:25 AM
I'm with Clint.
Where, oh where, is the Post's hard-hitting investigation of Todd Palin's involvement in the AIP? Given his role in Troopergate, his sitting-in on Alaska cabinet meetings, and his receipt of many policy-oriented emails, inquiring minds want to know just who this "First Gentleman" really is.
Posted by: A noun, a verb and POW | October 15, 2008 11:26 AM
palin does not have credentials anymore,either from, state or national issues for leadership
Posted by: lking (alaska) | October 15, 2008 12:05 PM
To ilvoter, who said, "I mean how many times does someone have to be wrong before they lose their credibility?"
Don't know. I've lost count of how many times McCain has been wrong.
Posted by: magpie | October 15, 2008 12:18 PM
I'm with Clint and Noun.
But I really don't think we should be referring to Todd as a gentleman. How about "First Jerk"?
Posted by: magpie | October 15, 2008 12:21 PM
It was McCain's fault for choosing an unqualified person as his running mate. Palin is a total disaster and could mean a total disaster for the country if McCain gets elected and Palin succeeds him in case of a health emergency -something quite possible due to McCain's age-
Then we will be in serious trouble because our government would be run by someone not just without experience but without even academic training. Palin had even trouble finishing school. She went to three colleges before she could get a degree. You could realize the degree of her intelligence and preparation just by listening to her. This woman has no substance whatsoever to lead our nation.
She is dangerous.
And Republicans are afraid to expose her to the press.
Read this comment by Roland Martin from CNN:
-------------------------------------
"So, Sarah, if you want to talk big on the campaign trail to those audiences that don't talk back, go right ahead. But if you truly are the maverick politician you say you are, come on and talk to us soft, coddled, elitist journalists. Surely we aren't as tough as the moose you like to take down with your Second Amendment-protected hunting rifle."
--------------------------------------
Posted by: Ted M Garza | October 15, 2008 12:29 PM
I truly believe this would have been a much tighter race worthy of party defections etc if Palin had not been picked as the VP candicate. In talking among my republican friends (white-young, rich, double-income-no-kids latte drinkers) They are really embarrased by her...she personifies the belief that the RNC "base" are redneck-racisits who are not too bright nor educated. My one friend screamed in agony when the lady at a recent RNC rally said she was scared of Barack because "He's Arab"...my friend wanted to DIE! Anyway, they say they're going for Obama. who knew!
Posted by: AS | October 15, 2008 12:30 PM
Wonder why Audey Murphy or Sgt York didn't run for public office. Who was a bigger war hero than either one of these men?
Posted by: centerline | October 15, 2008 3:37 PM
"DON’T wander around the stage while Obama is talking."
Considering that they'll be seated for this one, this is especially key.
Posted by: jacortina | October 15, 2008 6:33 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
I'm not sure why you guys at the mainstream media keep bringing up Zogby - I mean how many times does someone have to be wrong before they lose their credibility?