Oct 11 2008
Is the Second Debate Over Yet?
The television ratings for Tuesday’s second debate between Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain were strong. Not quite as good as the numbers for the vice-presidential debate last week but still strong. Historically, the third debate attracts a smaller audience. I think some people have decided on a candidate and don’t want to hear any more. I suspect some other people figure–like the typical last part of a trilogy–they’ve seen the best action in parts one and two.
Not that there was much action Tuesday. Tom Brokaw clearly read accounts depicting Jim Lehrer and Gwen Ifill as passive moderators who let McCain, Obama, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin say and do nearly anything they wanted. Brokaw seemed determined to be a strong moderator. He invoked the rules that the campaigns had accepted time and again. Of course, Brokaw forgot that both men debating before him were trying to get the last word as often as possible.
It’s hard to imagine that Bob Schieffer will be very different for Wednesday’s last debate. By then, 20 days will remain before Election Day. By then, Canada will have elected a new government. I wonder how that election will go.
I also wonder how the live blog will go. I came across a live blogging program that I am considering using Nov. 4. Wednesday’s debate seems like the perfect time to test drive it. So I will do so. I hope you will be there as well.
I suspect that following Sarah Palin’s interview with Katie Couric that many people watched the debate for the wrong reasons - but hey, they watched the debate!
This election cycle has bucked nearly every historical convention that we’ve held. There are very few exceptions, McCain’s campaigning tactics aside, that resemble any POTUS race I’ve seen in my lifetime.
I think the third and final debate will at least equal the ratings of the first, if for no other reason than the one katieanne pointed out for watching the VP debate (morbid curiosity). Barack Obama faces a different John McCain every time they square off for one of these, and Sen. McCain promised at a campaign rally at the beginning of the week that he’d come out swinging against Obama by bringing up Ayers, Wright, Rezko, etc. Of course, that was before he had to explain to people that an Obama presidency wouldn’t be scary, and that he wasn’t an Arab, so we’ll see.