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CNN:
Round 1 in debates goes to Obama, poll says — OXFORD, Mississippi (CNN) — A national poll of people who watched the first presidential debate suggests that Barack Obama came out on top, but there was overwhelming agreement that both Obama and John McCain would be able to handle the job of president if elected.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Hot Air, The Swamp, Washington Wire, The Live Feed, The Daily Dish, NDN Blog, Will Wilkinson and Connecting.the.Dots
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Brian Montopoli / CBS News:
Poll Results Suggest More Uncommitted Voters Saw Obama As Debate Winner — UPDATED WITH NEAR-FINAL NUMBERS CBS News and Knowledge Networks conducted a nationally representative poll of approximately 500 uncommitted voters reacting to the debate in the minutes after it happened.
Discussion:
TPM Election Central, The New Republic, Marc Ambinder, Balloon Juice, Balkinization, Booman Tribune, Achenblog, Democratic Strategist, All Spin Zone, NewsBusters.org, NDN Blog, The Mahablog, Hullabaloo, The Glittering Eye, Donklephant, FiveThirtyEight.com, Jules Crittenden, The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, The Peking Duck, Group News Blog, Taylor Marsh, PR Newswire and The Daily Dish
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:
Why Voters Thought Obama Won — TPM has the internals of the CNN poll of debate-watchers, which had Obama winning overall by a margin of 51-38. The poll suggests that Obama is opening up a gap on connectedness, while closing a gap on readiness. — Specifically, by a 62-32 margin …
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Slate, Ross Douthat, Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, Los Angeles Times, Swampland, Democrats.com, The New Republic and MyDD
Noah Pollak / Commentary:
CNN's Poll vs. CNN's Spin — CNN's poll of debate viewers blares a puzzling headline: “Round 1 in debate goes to Obama, poll says.” — But the poll itself actually doesn't say that. This is blatant editorializing on the part of CNN. The first problem is the numbers:
CNN:
Transcript of presidential debate — WASHINGTON (CNN ) — Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama debated on the campus of the University of Mississippi Friday night. The moderator for the debate was Jim Lehrer of the NewsHour on PBS. What follows is the full transcript of the debate:
Discussion:
New York Times, unbossed.com, Time, The Other McCain, Agence France Presse, rubber hose, Althouse, The RBC, Corrente, Pajamas Media, Connecting.the.Dots, Buck Naked Politics, The Raw Story, Wonkette, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, NewsBusters.org, Shakesville, TalkLeft and ProgressiveAccountability.org
Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:
TWS Exclusive: Kissinger Unhappy About Obama — Henry Kissinger believes Barack Obama misstated his views on diplomacy with US adversaries and is not happy about being mischaracterized. He says: “Senator McCain is right. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
The reporters and the polls — The mild consensus in the press file …
The reporters and the polls — The mild consensus in the press file …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, TPM Election Central, Slog, Politics Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, MSNBC and Kevin Drum
Felix Salmon / Portfolio:
McCain's Economics — Don't ask me who won the debate in terms …
McCain's Economics — Don't ask me who won the debate in terms …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
PR Newswire:
Newman's Own Foundation Celebrates the Life and Legacy of Paul Newman — Remembering the life and legacy of Paul Newman, Newman's Own Foundation has issued a statement. The statement, from Vice-Chairman Robert Forrester, follows: — “Paul Newman's craft was acting. His passion was racing.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Guardian, Campaign Silo, Maggie's Farm, culturekitchen and JammieWearingFool
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Aljean Harmetz / New York Times:
Paul Newman, a Magnetic Titan of Hollywood, Is Dead at 83 — Paul Newman, one of the last of the great 20th-century movie stars, died Friday at his home in Westport, Conn. He was 83. — The cause was cancer, said Jeff Sanderson of Chasen & Company, Mr. Newman's publicist.
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
SO ANGRY — McCain's unwillingness to make eye contact with Obama through the debate seems to be getting picked up by a lot of observers. Here's an interesting exchange on the subject between Chris Matthews and the Post's Eugene Robinson ... Here's one comment we got from TPM Reader EO ...
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Roger Simon / The Politico:
The Mac is back — John McCain was very lucky that he decided to show up for the first presidential debate in Oxford, Miss., Friday night. Because he gave one of his strongest debate performances ever. — While Barack Obama repeatedly tried to link McCain to the very unpopular George W. Bush …
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
“Horses**t”: Correction — I've removed the original post of a little time ago because after listening to the clip about two dozen times, what sounded like McCain saying “horses**t” actually comes through as having a hard “c” at the front of it. My husband insists that McCain said “Course not.”
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
RUNNING MATES AS SURROGATES.... After a debate, campaigns generally want high-profile figures telling the media how great their candidate did. And as a rule, it's hard to top the running mates as high-profile figures. — It was pretty interesting, then, that the Obama campaign was anxious …
Discussion:
Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Philly.com, The New Republic, Politics Blog and No More Mister Nice Blog
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
BIDEN — Pretty measured debate, but on hammering McCain Biden was on fire ...
BIDEN — Pretty measured debate, but on hammering McCain Biden was on fire ...
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Time Edit / Swampland:
What Sayeth the Undecideds? — From TIME's Amy Sullivan: — Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg ran a dial-group with 45 undecided voters in St. Louis during the debate, polling them before and after to judge how the event changed their reactions to Obama and McCain.
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
A Genuine and Immediate Crisis — What Congress has to do now. — I've received phone calls in the last hour from two economists I respect, one of them Larry Lindsey, the other in a position where he'd prefer not to be named. Both have government experience, neither is alarmist by nature, and they say this:
Discussion:
The Corner
Gallup:
Gallup Daily: Obama Holds 5-Point Lead — Momentum in his favor going into debate — PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama leads John McCain, 49% to 44%, when registered voters are asked who they would vote for if the election were held today, according to the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update.
Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:
The SNL Skit & Focus Groups — It's hard to guess what, exactly, the SNL skit will look like. I think the press is congealing around the (erroneous) idea that Obama won precisely because that's what the focus groups seem to be saying, or at least what the focus groups are saying allows …
Jeff G. / protein wisdom:
A Crisis Primer — David Harsanyi, writing for the Denver Post: … Harsanyi goes on to embed the “Burning down the House” video (on my suggestion: I have incredible pull with the mainstream press, provided I don't charge for my services), which I believe everyone should watch …
Discussion:
Post-Ed Notes
Cuffy Meigs / Perfunction:
Video: Obama's Flip-Flop On Missile Defense — From the first Presidential Debate in Oxford, Mississippi last night, Barack Obama changes direction on missile defense quicker than an “unproven” defensive interceptor. — But while he flipped in the right direction, is this Change You Can Believe In?
Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
How McCain Stirred a Simmering Pot — When Sen. John McCain made his way to the Capitol office of House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) just past noon on Thursday, he intended to “just touch gloves” with House Republican leaders, according to one congressional aide …