The First Debate

I suppose I'm one of the 19% of the audience at whom these debates are ultimately targeted -- the notorious undecided voter.

The University of Mississippi debate was interesting. In many regards, it got this deabte season off to a good start. I liked the format. Jim Lehrer did a good job and I was impressed at the way he forced the candidates to address each other for a change. Both candidates seemed to perform well and I will give them credit for that.

Nobody bombed, nobody won. In general, I thought this was still one of those debates where the person you supported beforehand is the one you think won it afterward.

However, they didn't perform flawlessly. Both candidates ducked the serious issue of the economy. I expected more out of the debate's first 30 minutes, especially after McCain threatened not to show because economic conditions were so on his mind. And Obama could have and should have done much better here as well.

In a superficial side note, I'm not sure which of the following annoys me more: Barack's habit of stuttering his initial words to buy time so that he may come out with the perfect rehearsed answer or McCain's insistence on using the same dumb joke lines over and over?

Hey John McCain, uh, uh, uh, I was just wondering, were you elected Miss Congeniality of the Senate or Miss Anything for that matter? If so, that knowledge may affect my vote.