VP Debate

[Dr. Shane]

Palin did awesome. She did as well as she did at the Republican Convention. Biden held his own but given how new Palin is to the national stage and the troubles she has had with a couple of recent interviews, Palin really stood out as doing well. I think both Palin and Biden did better than either Obama or McCain did in their first debate.

I would have to say that either Palin won or it was a draw.

[Neil D]

I would have to say that either Palin won or it was a draw.

CBC webcast is stating that Biden won it.

[Liz]

I watched it, I thought they both did well. Palin did call him O'Biden a couple of times, but it was a total fluke, it usually happened when she would refer to Obama and then try and say Biden's name it would come out O'Biden. Biden grinned each time she did it, it only happened about three times. I thought it was funny.

[Dr. Shane]

Debates have no "official" winner as it is so subjective. If McCain is able to close the gap in the polls a little within the next few days one can assume that Palin won. If the gap increases than Biden won. If the polls don't change in the next few days I think it safe to say that it was a draw.

I don't see the gap increasing. That is, I don't see Obama's lead increasing in the next few days. I suspect that either the gap will shrink a little, indicating Palin won, or that it will stay the same, indicating a draw.

[Neil D]

CBS webcast asked some question as to whether each VP canidate was able to fullfil the job as President....Only 33% think that Palin is able to fulfill the job of president after the debate...

That is not a good number....Oh, just an FYI, her numbers BEFORE the debate....20s%

[Dr. Shane]

That speaks in her favor. If her numbers were in the 20s% before the debate and in the 30s% after,,, that means Biden didn't do his job. But the real measure of who won will come in the poll numbers of the next few days.

[Neil D]

Nearly everyone says that she came accross better....Nearly everyone had low expectations of her and, yes, she did very well....

However, the substance of her talks are not good enough to overcome the Biden rebuttals.

The webcast also asked of Biden if he was presidential , iow, is he able to take over the Presidency...The results were that 71% BEFORE thought he as capable to take over the Presidency....compare that to 97% AFTER the debate.

Compare those stats to Palin.....

[Dr. Shane]

The polls over the next few days will decide. I thought Obama won the last debate and the polls afterward confirmed I was right. This time I think either Palin won or it was a draw. The polls will either prove me wrong or right.

[John317]

But don't forget there are still more debates between the VP candidates, so lots can still happen. I felt that Palin did what she had to do. She held her own debating a man with far more experience in government and someone who had been debating when Palin was a small child.

[Dr. Shane]

There are no more VP debates. There are two more Presidential debates. McCain should do better in the last two debates because he had no prepping for the first debate as he had been busy in Washington working on the bailout package.

[Neil D]

Mea culpa....I am correcting some numbers...Ah, what can I say? Old age is the culprit....

UPDATED CBS News and Knowledge Networks have conducted a nationally representative poll of 473 uncommitted voters to get their immediate reaction to tonight's vice presidential debate.

After the first presidential debate, a similar survey showed that more uncommitted voters identified Barack Obama as the winner

Final numbers from tonight's poll have yet to come in, but we do have some early results. (These numbers may change as more respondents complete the survey.) They suggest that once again more voters have responded favorably to the Democratic candidate.

Forty-six percent of the uncommitted voters surveyed say Democrat Joe Biden won the debate, compared to 21 percent for Republican Sarah Palin. Thirty-three percent said it was a tie.

Eighteen percent of previously uncommitted percent say they are now committed to the Obama-Biden ticket. Ten percent say they are now committed to McCain-Palin. Seventy-one percent are still uncommitted.

Both candidates improved their overall image tonight. Fifty-three percent of those surveyed say they now have a better impression of Biden. Five percent say they have a worse opinion of the Delaware senator, while 42 percent say they debate did not change their opinion.

Fifty-five percent say they now have a better opinion of Palin. Fourteen percent say they have a worse opinion, while 30 percent say their opinion hasn't changed.

After the debate, 66 percent see Palin as knowledgeable about important issues – up from 43 percent before the debate. But Biden still has the advantage on this – 98 percent saw him as knowledgeable after the debate. That figure was 79 percent before the debate.

Uncommitted voters’ views of Palin’s preparedness for the job of vice president also improved as a result of her debate performance - but they are still nowhere near the percentage that thinks Biden is prepared.

Fifty-five percent say Palin is prepared for the job, up from 39 percent before the debate. Ninty-seven percent say Biden is prepared, up from 81 percent pre-debate.

Although Palin made some gains on the question of whether she could serve as president if needed, she rose just 9 points on that measure. Now 44 percent say the Alaska governor could be an effective president. Ninety-one percent said Biden could be effective as president, up from 66 percent before the debate.

We will have a full report on the poll later on. Uncommitted voters are those who don't yet know who they will vote for, or who have chosen a candidate but may still change their minds.

[John317]

Ok, I am sorry to hear that. I would like to see at least one more between them. This puts all the pressure on McCain and Obama. It's going to be extremely interesting. I just hope the best one wins in the end-- the best one for the whole country.

[Dr. Shane]

I was leaning toward voting for Obama before this debate. Now I am less sure. I certainly can't say I am leaning toward McCain but I can't say I am as likely to vote for Obama now as I was this morning.

[Neil D]

I was leaning toward voting for Obama before this debate. Now I am less sure. I certainly can't say I am leaning toward McCain but I can't say I am as likely to vote for Obama now as I was this morning.

Told you...

You see the world thru republican eyes...you ain't gonna vote Obama...You GoTTA vote McCAin....

If you walk like a duck, quack like a duck, float on water like a duck, then you gotta be a duck...

[Dr. Shane]

One major obstacle for Palin is that she is a woman. I stated before that Hillary Clinton would lose more votes due to her being a woman than Obama would for being black. Regardless how well Palin did this evening, she was wearing a skirt and it takes a lot for a woman to convince people they can be President of the United States.

[Dr. Shane]

You see the world thru republican eyes...

I believe Drudge Report has a lot of Republican viewers. A poll on Drudge Report shown some 70%+ believed McCain won the first debate. In my mind, I think they had to have been watching that with "Republican eyes". I didn't see it that way. I thought Obama won.

Now we will see if I am right or not. In the next few days the polls will either stay about the same - indicating a draw - or decrease Obama's lead - indicating a Palin win. That is what I believe we will see - one or the other. I do not think we will see Obama increasing his lead - indicating a Biden win.

[lazarus]

Here's one trick I learned when taking Greek in seminary.

I would cram into my brain all the declinations and vocab, etc. that I could in the week before the exam. The first thing I would do as soon as the exam started was to write down all that stuff on a sheet of paper. I wouldn't even look at the questions. That would take me a few minutes. Then I would proceed to answer the questions. That sheet I had just created was like having a mini textbook in the exam. I was an A grade Greek student but I really didn't know the stuff that well.

What is clear from the debate is that Palin had her head pumped with info that she had ready to regurgitate when the trigger words were given. Even when trigger words weren't given she still sent forth a torrent of talking points. She really did not have a grasp of the issues. You could tell she was not reflecting on what she was saying as she was saying it. It was quite sad but she did well enough to exceed the low expectations that people had.

[Woody]

The News Is IN ...

Fox News reports that Sarah Palin won the debate.

[Tom Wetmore]

In similar skewed polling results as the Drudge Report viewers, I flipped over to the post debate coverage by FOXNoise and their crawl at the bottom of the screen showed their viewers response to the question of who won the VP debate - 12% for Biden and 86% for Palin.

Most reasonably objective commentators are confirming my perception of the debates which was that neither side lost ground but neither side really gained a lot of ground either. Both were able to stick to their game plan and defend the positions of their ticket. There were expected sharp contrasts. But there were no real surprises which means that the impact on the respective campaigns likely will be negligible. But overall the scales tend to tip toward Biden.

I think that Biden was more responsive to the questions and had more substantive responses most of the time. I felt his closing was much stronger and more inspiring. I was left feeling more confident in his leadership abilities, knowledge and judgment.

I felt that Palin tended to lapse quickly into prepared stump speech points and scripted quips, and one liners and did not actual answer many of questions. She was thin on substance and tended to wander around in her answers. But she was posed, and held her ground on positions. Two points she provided an alarming glimpse into what she would be like as VP or the Prez. She spoke in favor of enlarging the role and function of the VP which prior to Cheney would have gone without notice. But in light of Cheney's rule in the Bush administration, the thought of further expansion of the role and authority of the VP is beyond scary. And her answer to the idea of being Prez left me very uneasy as it seemed she would go beyond McCain to the far right.

Tom

[Dr. Shane]

Quote:

In similar skewed polling results as the Drudge Report viewers, I flipped over to the post debate coverage by FOXNoise and their crawl at the bottom of the screen showed their viewers response to the question of who won the VP debate - 12% for Biden and 86% for Palin.

I agree that FOXNews has a lot of Republican viewers. I don't agree that is evidence that they are bias but certainly they do want to provide coverage that their viewers are going to watch.

Quote:

Most reasonably objective commentators are confirming my perception of the debates which was that neither side lost ground but neither side really gained a lot of ground either.

I would have to put myself in that same group. As my initial post indicates, I felt it may well have been a tie or a draw.

Quote:

But overall the scales tend to tip toward Biden.

I disagree there because Biden pretty much did as expected to whereas Palin exceeded expectations.

[Woody]

I think that if you have someone as talented as Sarah .... that you need to utilize those skills. I think we would need to use her if she is V.P. even if it is expanding the usual role of the V.P.

Don't forget ... Bill Clinton expanded the role of the First Lady when he was in office.

[Dr. Shane]

I see reports that 45% of households watched the debate. Since we only have about 50% voting that would say that just about everyone that will be voting watched the debate.

[phkrause]

I'm not republican and I love foxnews. Like I've mentioned before, I used to watch all the different news stations and/or shows and have found that fox represents both sides pretty evenly. There are a few on there that have no use for the other side. But the others news sources are either for one or the other. I do still watch other news from other sources. But fox still comes out best in my opinion.

pk

[Woody]

[carolaa]

Most reasonably objective commentators are confirming my perception of the debates which was that neither side lost ground but neither side really gained a lot of ground either.

Pretty much all the mainstream reports I've seen are saying that.