Join us in the comments below as we liveblog our reactions to tonight's third and final debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, The last of some forty or more debates if you count all of the primary debates and fora of the two parties.
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My advice to Obama: have an answer to the Herbert Hoover argument McCain has been making. McCain says raising taxes and restraining free trade is Herbert Hoover again. Obama needs to say that reducing federal spending (the McCain freeze) is Hoover, and that he, Obama, supports tax cuts and is pro-trade, just for fair trade which is a great populist move.
In case you think this debate will slide into Ayers territory, for those arriving early, here's some pre-debate entertainment:
Welcome to the 2008 Vice Presidential Debate. Join us below the fold for a real time discussion from coaches, students, and guests!
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Once you do, join us in the liveblog of tonight's debate by clicking on "Permalink :: Read More... " at the bottom of this post. Then, just submit a comment or reply to one.
With a Democrat favored to win the White House in November and just this one debate between the two remaining Democratic hopefuls, a woman and a black man, there arguably may not be a single debate that has had more historic significance.
Kennedy/Nixon may be your quick reply. Yes, in retrospect, that is true. Interesting, too, since Obama has been anointed Kennedy's successor.
Surely this has sunk in for the candidates. Let's hope Wolf Blitzer and CNN treat the event with the dignity and significance it potentially has.
As for the candidates, join me in the comments to see whether they rise to the occasion. For in the end, it is they, two unique and powerful figures, who can prove me right or wrong on my pre-debate take.
Tonight, the same scene, the Reagan Library in Simi, California, with Air Force One as the dramatic backdrop, has fewer actors and the script now has one of them, John McCain cast as the front-runner.
McCain reminds voters that he was a "foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution" by way of asserting his conservative bona fides.
Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul have one last chance to debate the merits of McCain's claim.
In the comments I will liveblog their efforts and John McCain's debut as the candidate with the right to invoke Reagan's 11th commandment, "Thou shall not speak ill of any Republican."
The debate airs live on CNN the web at 8pm ET, is moderated by Anderson Cooper, and co-sponsored by Politico.com. You can go to politico to submit questions and to vote for questions.
You can prepare yourself for watching the debate by reading David William's excellent compilation of tips for watching.
Join us in the comments for liveblogging of tonight's GOP presidential primary debate from Boca Raton, Florida, held five days before Tuesday's primary there.
The debate starts at 9 pm ET on MSNBC and can also be viewed at MSNBC's website.
The five remaining candidates (Giuliani, Huckabee, McCain, Paul, and Romney) will be questioned by moderator Brian Williams, NBC's Tim Russert, and St. Petersburg Times editor, Paul Tash.
In the comments we'll be looking for signs of desperation from Rudy (who had told Russert and the world that Florida was his firewall) and for an escalation in the Romney/McCain competition for front runner status.
GOP hopefuls Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson square off in their third debate in six days at 9 pm tonight from Myrtle Beach, SC, on FOX News Network (on cable and streamed by FoxNews.com which has a preview.
We'll use the comments on this thread to record live reactions if my internet connection here in Texas keeps working and if the FOX stream works. I'm at a Radisson which features both balky internet access and a cable package that does not include Fox News.
The debate should be closely watched in not only in South Carolina, but also in Michigan where Romney is trying to hang on to his chances after having pulled ads in South Carolina and Florida. McCain is challenging in both places. Fred Thompson is making his last stand in South Carolina and Mike Huckabee leads there and is still rising in many polls of many states.
Rudy Giuliani is polling just ahead of Ron Paul and needs to remain relevant. Ron Paul might get questions tonight about his racist pamphleteering from the 1990's.
With McCain acting like the new front runner, or at least the "establishment" candidate, it will be interesting to see whether or not Thompson, Romney, and Huckabee triple team McCain much as Romney was ganged up on in New Hampshire.
Join me in comments or just live blog it without me should I lose contact . . .
GOP candidates shown shaking hands with Dem candidates as the former leave and the latter enter. Audience gives sustained applause.
GOP version of this proved candidates can and will mix it up when left to own devices but less so when moderator asks them to do so. Romney was clobbered.
Use the comments (register for free if you have not already) to add to this liveblog of commentary on the tonight's debate from Manchester, New Hampshire.
We'll have a separate liveblog posted right after this one for the Democratic candidates debate that follows.
Update [2007-12-12 15:27:17 by Ross Smith]: Terrible debate, really, and I blame the moderator. Read through the comments below to get a sense of how it didn't ever unfold.
Join me in the comments for live reactions to todays debate as it unfolds.
(If you are not registered, just do so in upper right of screen. It's free and easy.
Just click "Discuss" and join me in the comments . . .
Update [2007-12-9 20:35:16 by Ross Smith]: The candidates spoke in English which was translated into Spanish and that was then translated into closed caption English for the monolingaul English speaker like me. The result was humorous at time. Eventually, I just gave in and used humorous summary to communicate the gist of the gist as best I could understand it.
Read the comments below to see this "progression" as the debate went on.
Update [2007-12-9 21:19:18 by Ross Smith]: In the end there was almost no clash at all, with only Ron Paul disagreeing with anyone. Either it was the format and we'll have to wait until Wednesday's debate in Des Moines, or all of these guys thought attacking one another was backfiring.
There are liveblogs galore if you know where to look (go to del.icio.us and use the search "debatescoop liveblog").
Many are play-by-play, others seem to have little relation to the debate being watched, some are from partisans on blogs, and Ana Marie Cox's at Swampland are hilarious (add humor to the search above for the older ones). Cox's liveblog of tonight's debate is here.
Tonight I will use this one as an experiment for the special purpose of DebateScoop: I will pose potential research questions or story ideas for those of us most interested in better analysis of political candidate debates.
Read the comments and add to them yourself for the liveblog discussion . . . .
