Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying

Barack Obama and John McCain will face off tonight in their second presidential debate. The "town hall" format debate will be held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. With McCain collapsing in the polls, this debate offers him an opportunity to change the dynamics of the race. The buzz is that McCain will attack Obama personally as he and Palin have been doing the last few days. While both McCain and Palin have whipped up their supporters into a murderous frenzy with their campaign rallies, it is unlikely that the debate audience will chant "terrorist!" or "kill him" in response to McCain’s hate speech tonight.

So, this debate takes place amidst a fractured reality. On the one hand, the economic news that has dominated the minds of Americans the past few weeks is growing increasingly more grim. On the other hand, McCain and Palin have been going after Obama personally in a last desperate attempt to turn the tide of the election. What storyline will dominate the debate tonight remains to be seen. Its the economy versus hate speech.

Game on.

I will try to live blog the debate below.

9:00 PM First question is on bailout. Obama responds by saying bailout was first step, and then a middle class tax break is needed. McCain responds that we need energy independence, then brings it back to saying that he would renegotiate mortgages with struggling homeowners. Claims that is his idea – but this is already part of the bailout package. McCain did a good job at trying to feel the questioner’s pain, trying to channel Bill Clinton.

9:15PM McCain says he suspended his campaign to help citizens. Insults citizen by saying he has probably never heard of Fannie or Freddie – bad attempt at populism, John. Now he lashes Obama and his "friends" at Fannie/Freddie. It was all Obama’s fault that the credit crisis happened. Obama comes out  explaining to the questioner why the bailout package was needed – without it, small and large businesses wont make payroll and people will lose their jobs. Bill Clinton would be proud. Pivots and slams McCain by telling everyone that McCain’s campaign manager lobbied for Freddie.

9:20 PM Questioner wants to know how either man can be trusted. Obama says both parties to blame, but its worth remembering that Bush turned surplus into defecit. McCain says system is broken but he is a "consistent reformer". Says he is bipartisan. "We need to reform". Uh oh, he is about to launch into earmarks. This is not as big an issue as he thinks it is, since he just voted for a pork laden bailout bill.

9:25 PM McCain says he doesnt need to prioritize between healthcare, energy, and entitlement reform – he can do it all. Obama says we obviously have to prioritize. Starts with energy. Point to Obama. He knows the per gallon gas price in Nashville. Hits McCain on tax cuts to Exxon Mobile.

9:30 PM McCain gets first internet question. Sweet irony. Asked what sacrifice America needs to make, he says he wants an across the board spending freeze, except defense and a couple of others. Not a winner. Obama invokes 9/11. Says, given the chance to ask Americans to sacrifice, Bush told people to shop. Says we need to move to energy independence. People have to help in the transition away from imported oil.

9:35 PM McCain throws out nasty zinger about Obama raising taxes. I am not watching CNN, but I suspect the audience response probably was heavily negative. Bad move John.

9:37 PM Obama jabs without being nasty. He says the "Straight Talk Express just lost a wheel" when McCain talked about taxes. Obama owned the tax answer. If you make under quarter million dollars not a dime of your taxes will increase. If you make less than $200,000 you will get a tax cut. McCain wants to give $200 billion to big corporations and another $100 billion to millionaires. Wall Street CEO would get $700,000 in tax cut under McCain’s plan while the middle class get nothing.

9:40 PM McCain says he will answer question on how to fix social security, but then doesnt answer question. Says he’d behave like Reagan and figure it out – I almost that he said he would ask what a maverick would do and then do it! 🙂 On medicare, he says he’d form a commission to study the problem.

9:45 PM Obama’s best answer of the night was on response to global warming. He said we needed to invest heavily in green technologies. It will create jobs and fuel our economy the same way the computer revolution did.

9:50 PM McCain just referred to Obama as "that one", pointed at Obama without looking at him. Now, that was a very nasty turn. He is upset and he is speaking very fast.

9:55 PM McCain is walking around as Obama is speaking on healthcare. Not sure what is going on, but he may still be upset from the previous question.

10:00 PM McCain speaking about deregulating healthcare across state lines. He says Obama will fine you if you dont insure your kid. He is now pleading. He tried to make some joke about hair transplants – not sure if he was trying to make a dig at Biden.

10:02 PM McCain says healthcare is not a right, but a responsibility.

10:05PM Obama says healthcare is a right. Says his mother died of cancer still fighting with insurance companies to get coverage. Says McCain voted against children’s healthcare.

10:08PM Topic switching to national security…

10:10 PM Question is how will economic problems impact our ability to be a peacemaker in the world. McCain responds by saying we need a strong military, and we have fought from freedom all over the world. He was right about the surge, he says. He says Obama doesnt understand foreign policy.

10:12 PM Obama says he agrees with McCain he doesnt understand some things. He says he doesnt understand how we attack a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, while al Qaeda gets stronger elsewhere. He says McCain cheerled the invasion of Iraq. Obama says we do not have the resources nor the allies to act worldwide because of the blunder in Iraq. He will change that.

10:15 PM McCain says he was right on the surge, Obama would have brought troops home in defeat.

10:20 PM Question is whether we should attack al Qaeda in Pakistan. Obama says if Pakistan will not act, the US will. McCain says that we cant announce our intentions, we must work with our allies, etc. Obama comes back on rebuttal and says #1 priority has to be to kill bin Laden – if US has him in our sights, we take him out. McCain thinks he is scoring points here, but Obama has not only the right strategy here, but also the strategy that most Americans would want after what bin Laden did on 9/11. I am not sure why McCain goes at this over and over again – its a lose lose for him, makes him look weak.

10:25 PM Obama says McCain doesnt speak softly. McCain sang "bomb bomb bomb Iran" and threatened to nuke North Korea. Doesnt sound like a guy who speaks softly and carries a big stick.

10:27 PM Obama says we need to focus on Afghanistan, move troops to Afghanistan from Iraq. McCain says Obama right about Afghanistan, but the surge in Iraq worked dammit! Says General Patreas will set strategy in Afghanistan.

10:30 PM McCain lobbies for Georgia to be in NATO. Apparently Georgian money going to McCain advisors is really paying off.

10:31 PM McCain says Obama would talk to Iran without preconditions, and McCain wont allow a "second holocaust". Obama says he must use all tools at our disposal, including diplomacy to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Says he favors direct talks to deliver tough message.

10:35 PM Last question is what dont you know and how will you learn it. Obama says its the challenges you dont expect are the ones you are likely to face as president. Talks about his personal history and the deteriorating conditions in the last 8 years. He says this country gave him opportunity and nowhere else would it have been possible. Powerful summation. McCain also talks about his personal story. He says he believes in this country and wants another opportunity to serve. He also finishes with a nice summation.

Today Sarah Palin visited Nebraska in a desperate attempt to save an electoral vote from the congressional district around Omaha. Politico’s Ben Smith points out Palin’s odd excuse for visiting Nebraska.

It is worth noting, however, what Palin actually said in her explanation:

“The pundits today on TV—one of them was saying, check out the vice president’s schedule, check out where she’s going — she’s going to Nebraska,” Palin said.

Someone should tell her that she is a candidate. She is not yet vice president. The American people get to vote first.

The headline today on The Politico is "Virginia GOP fears McCain could lose the state". Let’s make their fears a reality.

John McCain’s brother was in Loudoun County – my county – today. He called Northern Virginia a "communist country". To be more precise, he singled out Arlington County and Alexandria for scorn. Are you folks in Arlington and Alexandria going to take this crap from the McCains?

Why would Joe McCain make such a remark? Well, it appears that the polls may have something to do with it. The polls show that Barack Obama has a slight lead in Virginia. Virginia was supposed to be solidly Republican. But, on the strength of support in Northern Virginia Barack Obama has made Virginia competitive. The McCain campaign knows that if we get out to the polls on November 4th, Virginia will hand the presidency to Barack Obama. So, they are scared. They are drowning in fear:

Virginia Republicans are warning that John McCain’s prospects for winning a state that has been in the GOP column in every presidential election since 1964 could be in jeopardy. With Barack Obama treating the Old Dominion like a battleground state and reliable polls showing a margin-of-error race there, some are cautioning that McCain is making a critical mistake by allowing the Democratic nominee to outpace him in terms of visits and resources committed.

The two best indicators of which states the campaigns are serious about – time and money – tell the story.

Since wrapping up the Democratic nomination in June, Obama, his wife, Michelle, and his running mate Joe Biden have visited the commonwealth a combined 12 times. The candidate himself was in the Tidewater city of Newport News Saturday.

Obama is also plowing millions into Virginia, blanketing the airwaves with TV and radio ads, filling up mailboxes with leaflets and, along with the state party, operating 49 campaign offices.

Together, McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, have held just one campaign event in Virginia. And the campaign has taken its ads off the pricey Washington, D.C. network affiliates that reach into the entire swath of the Northern Virginia, the commonwealth’s most populous region.

“I think [McCain] needs to get here,” said Rep. Tom Davis, a longtime member of Congress who represents a Northern Virginia district. “I think they’ve got to pay more attention.”

Let’s help the Republicans out. Let’s throw them an anvil.

Tomorrow, Monday October 6th, is the voter registration deadline in Virginia. If you have not yet registered, and you want to part of an historic election, you have one more day to file your registration form. You can send your registration via mail or you can go to your local registration office. Visit Vote For Change or the Virginia State Board of Elections website to get the registration form and to get the process started.

After you have ensured that you are registered, throw one more anvil on November 4th by casting your vote.

We Virginians have elected a Democratic governor in 2005. We elected a Democratic Senator in 2006. On November 4th, with your help, we will elect Mark Warner our second Democratic Senator and Barack Obama president of the United States.