A small part of the debate last week has now become Hillary Clinton's strongest argument against Barack Obama's national security credentials.
Obama's explanation that he had not held a subcommittee hearing because he only became chair after the campaign began, has now become he's too busy campaigning "to protect our national security," something Hillary Clinton claims she will never be.
The latest in the "3 a.m." ad war uses a tiny excerpt from a debate that most observers "scored" for Obama into a potentially powerful closing argument for Clinton.
Advice for candidates: go to the bathroom before the debate and make sure there's a fresh battery in your hearing aid.
According to the AP, inability to hear and a need to pee were Tommy "Not Fred" Thomspon's excuses for giving an answer that was the opposite of what he says he intended in the GOP presidential primary debate at the Reagan Library. Thompson and his campaign have spent the past week digging out of the hole of his apparent rejection of GLBT employment rights.
Compare the cost of a hearing aid battery and a decent debate coach to the cost of lost campaign donations.
Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich and his Democratic challenger, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, debated Saturday afternoon at the studios of WJZ-TV in Baltimore. Although the press covered and reported on the debate, the public will not see it until Monday evening. Thanks to press reports, the public is prepared to focus on three moments. The public may well see these moments differently because the press has already highlighted them.
A Republican in a "red" district is having a very tough time. As kos notes:
In 2004, George Bush won Colorado's 5th CD with 66 percent of the vote. He got 190,190 votes. Kerry got a measly 93,684. It's not the sort of vote differential that gives high hopes for a Democratic House win in 2006.
But Democrat Jay Fawcett has been plugging away, and he was lucky enough to be paired off against crazy Doug Lamborn . . . . outgoing Rep. Joel Heffley has urged people to not vote for Lamborn and briefly flirted with a write-in campaign to try and head off Lamborn.
With the reputable Mason-Dixon poll showing the race to be a dead heat before Fawcett has run his first ad, Lamborn's lack of self-control just gives free advertising to Fawcett. This YouTube video is getting wide play.
As you may recall, last Monday, Virginia Senator Allen called for the remainder of the campaign season to focus on an "invigorating debate worthy of our rich history" (press release, video)
Whether this debate lives up to Allen's aspirations or not, some in the media and blogosphere have deemed this debate a "crucial" point in the Virginia senate campaign. Coverage suggests this is Allen's opportunity to refocus the prevailing narrative away from his recent gaffes. However, some of the coverage also seconds Allen's motion to move on to the issues, while other coverage focuses on the snapshot of the race at this point in time. And finally, there is the no-debate debate.
Coyote Mercury says the debate changed him/her from undecided to a Bell supporter.
Tennessee Senate:
Ford/Corker debate is at same time as Tennessee/Georgia football game tonight notes this Kos diarist who speculates that Corker is afraid of coverage (he is the ONLY Republican candidate to have rejected Russert's MTP invitation).
C-Span TV will broadcast this Saturday's debate between Harold Ford, Jr and Bob Corker at 7 p.m. Central/8 p.m. EST. The debate will also be webcast live on www.wreg.com.
Update [2006-10-7 21:34:39 by Ross Smith]: You can see how the DailyKos audience reacted to this "debate" that identified almost no difference between the two candidates in this 150+ comment liveblog.
Debater's Nightmare: MyDD alerts us to what might be the worst closing remarks ever uttered in a debate: a Rotary Club audience laughs at the candidate. Here is the You Tube video
