memeorandum: WHAT IT'S LIKE TO DEBATE SARAH PALIN (Andrew Halcro/Christian Science Monitor)

12:05 PM ET, October 1, 2008

Top Items:

Obama Over 50 Percent In Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll Finds; Debate, Palin's Fade, Economy Put Democrat On Top — FLORIDA: Obama 49 - McCain 43 pre-debate; Obama 51 - McCain 43 post-debate; OHIO: Obama 49 - McCain 42 pre-debate; Obama 50 - McCain 42 post-debate …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, The New Republic, Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, Pajamas Media, NY Daily News Blogs, Salon, Boston Globe, TalkLeft, tboblogs.com/index.php/news, Comments from Left Field, Taegan Goddard's …, The Raw Story, Washington Post, Wonkette, The Buzz, Naked Politics and No More Mister Nice Blog

Pew Research Center:

Obama Boosts Leadership Image and Regains Lead Over McCain — Growing Concerns About Palin's Qualifications — Barack Obama has achieved a significant lead over John McCain in the days following the first presidential debate. Pew's new survey conducted Sept. 27-29 finds that Obama …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

The Politico:

Nervous GOP urges McCain to attack — John McCain's fade in recent polls, combined with a barrage of negative news coverage during the financial crisis, has leading Republican activists around the country worrying about his prospects and urging his campaign to become much more aggressive …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, FiveThirtyEight.com, The Swamp, Below The Beltway, Democratic Strategist, CNN, MyDD, TIME.com, The Impolitic, Real Clear Politics and Open Left

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Day 34 - Decoding Sarah Palin — Good Tuesday morning. Stocks open lower after big rebound. — SIREN - Quinnipiac University - “Obama Over 50 Percent In Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll Find 00 Debate, Palin's Fade, Economy Put Democrat On Top. ...

Discussion: The New Republic

Marc Ambinder:

On The Other Hand, New Polls Cite Palin As Reason For McCain Drop — As discussed below, the McCain-Palin campaign attributes all of Sen. McCain's gravity in recent polls to the economy. But new Quinnipiac and Pew polls provide evidence to the contrary. Specifically, Pew finds that 51% …

Discussion: Below The Beltway

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias: The McCain Bubble? — New Pew poll shows what everyone already …

Andrew Halcro / Christian Science Monitor:

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO DEBATE SARAH PALIN — I know firsthand: She's a master of the nonanswer. — Republish — When he faces off against Sarah Palin Thursday night, Joe Biden will have his hands full. — I should know. I've debated Governor Palin more than two dozen times.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Opinionator, American Power, Comments from Left Field, Ben Smith's Blogs, Achenblog, The Huffington Post, Dependable Renegade and DownWithTyranny!

Joel Millman / Wall Street Journal:

Palin Proved to Be Formidable Foe in Alaska Debates — ANCHORAGE, Alaska — There are two things people here remember about Sarah Palin's debating style during her race for governor two years ago. — One is the stack of color-coded cue cards she took to the podium for help whenever she was asked a policy question.

Discussion: Boston Globe, Political Punch, The Raw Story, AMERICAblog News and TIME.com

Hugh Hewitt / Townhall.com:
Reactions To The Palin Interview

Discussion: Washington Post, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and MSNBC

The Huffington Post:
Why Sarah Palin Is A Better Debater Than You Think

Discussion: Washington Monthly and No More Mister Nice Blog

Los Angeles Times: Underestimate Palin at your own risk, former rivals say

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Past Debates Show a Confident Palin, at Times Fluent but Often Vague

Discussion: Emptywheel, Political Machine, Stop The ACLU, Jules Crittenden, Real Clear Politics and Althouse

Alexander Burns / The Politico:
On small stage, Palin scored big debate wins

Discussion: Washington Post, MOMocrats™, The Raw Story and Think Progress

Associated Press:
Wildlife group expands reach of anti-Palin wolf ad

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and Say Anything

Bob Unruh / wnd.com:

VP debate moderator Ifill releasing pro-Obama book — Focuses on blacks who are ‘forging a bold new path to political power’ — The moderator of Thursday's vice-presidential debate is writing a book to come out about the time the next president takes the oath of office that aims to …

Discussion: Salon, TVNewser, www.redstate.com, Spin Cycle, FishBowlDC, Say Anything, Don Surber, Early Returns and StephenBainbridge.com

Michelle Malkin:

A debate “moderator” in the tank for Obama; Update: McCain campaign didn't know about book — My first syndicated column of the week, filed this afternoon, shines light on PBS anchor Gwen Ifill, who will moderate Thursday's only vice presidential debate. Try as she might to deflect questions …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, JammieWearingFool, Power Line, Townhall.com, Say Anything, pandagon.net, Gateway Pundit, The Campaign Spot, NewsBusters.org, Stop The ACLU, TVNewser, Jules Crittenden, Althouse, www.redstate.com, Hot Air, Top of the Ticket, Patterico's Pontifications and Classical Values

Greta Van Susteren / GretaWire:

oh - oh !! — I confirmed for us here on GretaWire: the McCain campaign did NOT know about Gwen Ifill's book (I think I told them when I made my efforts - emails about midnight - to find out!) I am stunned....the campaign (actually both) should have been told before the campaign agreed to have her moderate.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Hot Air, NO QUARTER, Pajamas Media and Gateway Pundit

Greta Van Susteren / GretaWire:
Conflict of Interest? Should someone pull out of the VP debate? or not?

Discussion: National Review

CBS News:

Palin Opens Up On Controversial Issues — VP Candidate Speaks Frankly With Katie Couric About Feminism, Homosexuality, Abortion And The Environment … The day began early. After being briefed by her staff, Sarah Palin heads out with her 14-year-old daughter Willow in tow.

Discussion: Althouse, Think Progress, Washington Monthly, Right Wing News, Obsidian Wings, First Draft, Whiskey Fire, NewsBusters.org, The Democratic Daily, The Dish Rag, The Corner, Campaign Silo, The Moderate Voice and TalkLeft

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING.... In her latest chat …

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

The Huffington Post:
Palin, A Journalism Major, Can't Name A News Source She Reads

Discussion: Philly.com, The Huffington Post, TheZoo and skippy the bush kangaroo

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:
Palin Sets Up the Choice

Discussion: MoJoBlog

Martha Mendoza / Associated Press:
Campaign tries to explain Palin's Putin comment

Discussion: MyDD

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

GRUMPY MCCAIN EMERGES IN IOWA....With recent polls showing John McCain struggling in Iowa — a state Bush won four years ago — the Republican nominee swung through the Hawkeye State yesterday, including a lengthy chat with the Des Moines Register, which endorsed McCain before January's Iowa caucuses.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
DEEP THOUGHT — John McCain doesn't like being called a liar.

Discussion: Think Progress, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Firedoglake, MyDD and The REAL McCain

Thomas Beaumont / Des Moines Register:
McCain would consider keeping Paulson in Cabinet

Discussion: The Caucus and TIME.com

Wall Street Journal:

Bill v. Barack on Banks — Clinton instructs Obama on finance and Phil Gramm. — A running cliché of the political left and the press corps these days is that our current financial problems all flow from Congress's 1999 decision to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that separated commercial and investment banking.

Discussion: Townhall.com, Commentary, Hot Air and Betsy's Page

George Soros / Financial Times:

Recapitalise the banking system — The emergency legislation currently before Congress was ill-conceived - or more accurately, not conceived at all. As Congress tried to improve what Treasury originally requested, an amalgam plan has emerged that consists of Treasury's original Troubled …

Discussion: The Corner, American Prospect, The Politico, Washington Wire and Seeing the Forest

New York Times:

Senate to Vote Today on the Bailout Plan — WASHINGTON — Senate leaders scheduled a Wednesday vote on a $700 billion financial bailout package after accepting tax breaks and a higher limit for insured bank deposits in a bid to win House approval and send legislation to President Bush by the end of the week.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Spin Cycle, MSNBC, DealBook and QandO

George F. Will / Washington Post:

A Vote Against Rashness — His name was George F. Babbitt. He was 46 years old now, in April 1920, and he made nothing in particular, neither butter nor shoes nor poetry, but he was nimble in the calling of selling houses for more than people could afford to pay.

Discussion: Below The Beltway

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Rescue the Rescue — I was channel surfing on Monday …

Discussion: OPB News, Commentary, driftglass, Balkinization and American Prospect

Kathleen Parker / Washington Post:

The Omen In My Mail — Allow me to introduce myself. I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a dumpster, but since she didn't, I should “off” myself. — Those are a few nuggets randomly selected from thousands of e-mails written in response …

Discussion: Below The Beltway, Eunomia, The Strata-Sphere, Don Surber and The Moderate Voice

Mark Steyn / The Corner:

Woolly Bully — Rich, that list of Bailout Bill earmarks gives the game away. — When this thing first came up, a lot of us felt like the Mister Average Joe guy at the start of a conspiracy thriller who gets a call saying the place is gonna blow, you got 30 seconds to get outta there …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin