memeorandum: Who won the VP debate? Voters weigh in on how Vance and Walz performed. (Washington Post)

12:10 PM ET, October 2, 2024

Top Items:

Will Saletan / The Bulwark:

The One Question That Mattered in the VP Debate — IN TUESDAY NIGHT'S VICE-PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, JD Vance and Tim Walz covered lots of issues: inflation, housing, guns, abortion, immigration, health care, and much more. — But there was only one question on which the vice presidency …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Raw Story and Democrats

Melanie Mason / Politico:

Dead even: POLITICO snap poll shows stark division on debate — The results reflect the country's hyper-polarized politics. — Talk about a divided nation: There was no decisive winner in the first-and-only vice presidential debate of the 2024 election. — Asked who won Tuesday's debate …

Discussion: USA Today, The Hill, Townhall, New Republic and The Daily Beast

CBS News:

CBS News VP debate poll shows voter reactions to Vance-Walz showdown — In the first — and likely only — vice-presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance, voters who watched Tuesday night said it was an almost even match, and an overwhelming majority felt the tone of the debate was positive.

Discussion: CNN, Washington Examiner, New York Times, New York Post, Scripps News, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Daily Caller, No More Mister Nice Blog, Reuters, The Daily Beast, El País, Washington Post, The Guardian, USA Today, Newsbusters, The Hill, Bloomberg and Mediaite

Vox:

3 winners and 2 losers from the Walz-Vance debate — The vice presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance on Tuesday was something of a stalemate, though it did feature several striking moments and offered an interesting preview into what presidential politics might look like once Donald Trump is off the stage.

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo, NBC News, ABC News, Irish Examiner, ME, New Jersey Online and Florida Phoenix

CNN:

CNN Instant Poll: No clear winner in VP debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance — Registered voters who watched Tuesday's debate between vice presidential nominees Tim Walz and JD Vance were closely divided over which candidate did the better job, according to a CNN instant poll …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, Breitbart, New Jersey Online, New York Times and The Daily Beast

Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:

JD Vance Was So Good, It May Drive Trump Crazy — The junior senator from Ohio won the debate. But who did he win it for? (Hint: Not his boss.) — A few thoughts on Tuesday's VP debate. — Tim Walz was . . . fine. His performance rated somewhere between lovable lunkhead and compelling nice guy.

Discussion: The Atlantic, PoliticusUSA, emptywheel and USA Today

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

At debate, Vance whines: You weren't supposed to fact-check me! — Republican vice-presidential nominee brings a Magic Drawing Board to his face-off with Tim Walz. — Half an hour into Tuesday night's vice-presidential debate, JD Vance lodged a whiny protest.

Politico:
The big VP debate takeaway: Neither candidate delivered the goods

Discussion: The Bulwark, The Dispatch, Blaze Media, HuffPost, Associated Press, Washington Post, Semafor, Raw Story, Slate, The Daily Beast, USA Today and NBC News

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
The only moment from the VP debate that mattered

Discussion: Civil Discourse …, The Daily Beast, Newsbusters, The Atlantic, NPR, The Verge, CBS News, The Guardian, Raw Story and Scripps News

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
JD Vance is Trump 2.0

Discussion: The Guardian, The Hill, Lawyers, Guns & Money, abc7NY, Politico, Vox, Fox News, Variety, ABC News, Bloomberg and New York Daily News

Stefan Becket / CBS News:
Read the full VP debate transcript from the Walz-Vance showdown

Discussion: Axios, Althouse, New York Post, Mock Paper Scissors, So What, Steve Sailer, FactCheck.org, Power Line, Blaze Media, Advocate and Mediaite

Judd Legum / Popular Information:
The difference between Vance and Trump

Discussion: RedState, USA Today, Townhall, Wall Street Journal, Washington Examiner and Daily Kos

Tessa Stuart / Rolling Stone:
J.D. Vance Tries Desperately to Rewrite His Abortion Stance During Debate

Discussion: Zeteo, Pepperspectives, The Guardian, Washington Examiner, Wall Street Journal, Joe.My.God., Plain Dealer, HuffPost, CBS News, Axios and Washington Times

Jamison Foser / Finding Gravity:
None of us should even know who JD Vance is

Discussion: Eschaton

Zachary Basu / Axios:
America's time machine: Takeaways from a refreshingly civil VP debate

Discussion: National Journal, HuffPost, New York Times and NPR

Washington Post:
Who won the VP debate? Voters weigh in on how Vance and Walz performed.

Discussion: Silver Bulletin, USA Today, Washington Examiner, Breitbart, OutsideTheBeltway, Los Angeles Times and Townhall

Reagan Reese / The Daily Caller:
‘Nervous As Hell’: Bewildered Walz Emerges From Media Quarantine Only To Get Shelled By Vance

Discussion: Washington Post and Daily Caller News Foundation

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Vance crushes Walz, debate was over in first minute

Discussion: USA Today and CBS News

Laura Doan / CBS News:
Fact checking VP debate claims from Walz and Vance's 2024 showdown

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Mediaite, Washington Post, Raw Story, The Verge, Washington Examiner, PolitiFact, ABC News, Breitbart, abc7NY and Fox News

Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:
CBS cuts mics of Vance, Walz during immigration argument

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
Vance claims Trump ‘salvaged’ Obamacare. Trump tried, and failed, to kill it.

Discussion: Raw Story, Forbes, Fox News, HuffPost, Balloon Juice, The Gateway Pundit, Roll Call, Advocate, STAT, Joe.My.God., National Review, Breitbart, Axios and Daily Kos

Ryan J. Reilly / NBC News:
‘Damning non-answer’: Vance refuses to acknowledge Trump lost the 2020 election

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Magazine, ABC News, The Hill, New York Times, Washington Post, Votebeat, The Guardian, Business Insider, The Daily Beast, HuffPost, The Hollywood Reporter, New Jersey Online and USA Today

Steven Nelson / New York Post:
Tim Walz is rocked by cool JD Vance, admits 'I'm a knucklehead' during genial VP debate

Discussion: Fox News, Poynter, Raw Story, The Free Press, Variety, The Guardian, MPR News, The Hill, The American Spectator, Washington Examiner, Washington Post, ABC News and NewsNation

CNN:
Walz's claim that he was in Hong Kong during Tiananmen Square protests undercut by unearthed newspaper reports

Washington Post:

Trump mixes up words, swerves among subjects in off-topic speech — The Republican nominee appeared tired and complained about his heightened campaign schedule. — MILWAUKEE — Republican nominee Donald Trump spoke for 33 minutes before his first mention of the ostensible focus of his remarks.

Discussion: Raw Story

Aaron Rupar / Public Notice:

Trump's decompensation was the big debate day story — 🚨 This special, five-edition week of PN is made possible by paid subscribers. If you aren't one already, please sign up to support our independent journalism. 🚨 — 🎤 Subscribe to Public Notice 🎤

Discussion: The Status Kuo

Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:

How unhinged must Trump get to even matter? — The irony is now painful. For many years now, the artsy mountain resort city of Asheville, N.C. has been marketed to a growing retiree population as a “climate refuge,” a temperate inland fortress far from the potential killer hurricanes …

Edward Luce / Financial Times:

Trump's ageing is as real as Biden's — The former president's verbal decline and random meanderings are shrugged off as just more of the same — A boy has a crush on a girl and tells everyone how great she is. The girl does not feel the same way and picks another suitor.

Discussion: Breitbart and Townhall

Brian Stelter / CNN:
Trump backs out of ‘60 Minutes’ primetime interview, CBS says

Discussion: Salon, HuffPost, Poynter, Washington Examiner, Raw Story, Variety, Axios, BizPac Review, Townhall, Associated Press, Washington Post, Politico, The Daily Beast, Blaze Media, NPR and Los Angeles Times, more at Mediagazer »

Monica Alba / NBC News:
Harris launches a new ad that hits Trump's age in criticizing Vance

Discussion: The Hill, PJ Media, New York Times, Politico, Twitchy, New York Post, The Federalist, RedState, NewsNation, Daily Kos, USA Today and Axios

CBS News:

How the U.S. is responding to Iran's missile attack against Israel — The U.S. has called Tuesday's Iranian missile attack against Israel a significant escalation with the threat of wider war in the Middle East now seemingly at a tipping point. CBS News reporter Olivia Gazis …

Discussion: Mercury News

Charisma Madarang / Rolling Stone:
Trump Mocks 100 U.S. Troops Injured in Iran on His Watch: ‘They Had a Headache’

Discussion: The Hill and Raw Story

Reuters:
Iran Launches About 180 Ballistic Missiles at Israel

Discussion: USA Today, The Hill, Al Jazeera, Wall Street Journal, Townhall, CNN, The Sun, New York Times, El País, OutsideTheBeltway, Middle East Monitor, JNS.org, Reason, Reuters, Politico and nationalinterest.org

Robert Sherman / The Hill:

What Iran's missile attack on Israel felt like — HAIFA, Israel — I knew right from the get-go this attack from Iran was going to be different than anything we had seen. — Over the past year, I've personally witnessed countless rocket attacks on cities like Tel Aviv, Ashkelon and Sderot coming from Gaza.

David E. Sanger / New York Times:
A Wider War in the Middle East, From Hamas to Hezbollah and Now Iran

Discussion: OutsideTheBeltway, The Guardian, The Atlantic and Bloomberg

Cook Political Report:

Swing State Polling Finds Deadlocked Presidential Contest, ‘Blue Wall’ Senate Races Tighten — A new Cook Political Report Swing State Project Survey conducted by BSG and GS Strategy Group (September 19-25; 2,941 voters), shows Vice President Kamala Harris leading or tied with former President Donald Trump …

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, New Jersey Online and Wide World of News

Paul Specht / WRAL-TV:

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson criticized for skipping vote on Helene emergency declaration — As a deadly storm system approached the southeastern U.S. last week, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's office asked top state officials to support his call for emergency help.

Discussion: Raw Story and NC Newsline

The White House:

FACT SHEET: UPDATE: Biden-Harris Continues Life-Saving Response Efforts in Response to Hurricane Helene — Today, President Biden is announcing 1,000 active-duty troops will be immediately deployed to assist with response and recovery efforts — President Biden and Vice President Harris continue …

Discussion: Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal

Ava Kofman / ProPublica:

A Pair of Billionaire Preachers Built the Most Powerful Political Machine in Texas. That's Just the Start. — Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks are poised to take their Christian nationalist agenda nationwide. — Co-published with The New York Times Magazine … Reporting Highlights

Caroline Vakil / The Hill:

Washington Post endorses Alsobrooks in Maryland Senate race — The Washington Post editorial board announced on Wednesday that it would be throwing its endorsement behind Democrat Angela Alsobrooks in the Maryland Senate race against Republican Larry Hogan, the state's former governor.

Discussion: Washington Post

Dan Mangan / CNBC:

Betting on US elections can resume after legal freeze, appeals court rules … A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., cleared the way Wednesday for Americans to bet on the outcome of the 2024 congressional elections. — The appeals court in a decision rejected an effort …

Discussion: The Hill, Bloomberg and CoinDesk

Julia Manchester / The Hill:

Cook Political Report shifts Texas Senate race toward Democrats — The Cook Political Report on Tuesday shifted Texas's Senate race from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican,” signaling momentum for Rep. Colin Allred's (D-Texas) challenge against incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the red state.