PoliPundit.com

OK, there are three basic questions to this first Debate:
1. Who “won” the debate?
2. Was anyone’s mind changed?
3. What will be remembered from this debate?
1. Who “won” the debate? I think most people’s first impression, is that Kerry was strong and forceful, while Bush was less effective, more hesitant. Kerry was aggressive, and [...]

Okay…the commentators are wrong as usual.
What people remember from the debates are not the individual sentences, but the general impressions. The candidate who forms the general impressions wins, and tonight, that was George W. Bush.
Again and again, the President pounded Kerry on his weak record on Iraq and his inconsistent positions on the War [...]

For those of you who don’t think my five-minute assessment conveys enough information, read DJ’s brilliant post below, where he live-blogged the whole debate. That’ll give you some hope.
I’ll have more pleasant things to say tomorrow. Stay tuned.

After watching Kerry’s nomination acceptance speech for five minutes, I called it an “unmitigated disaster.” Similarly, after the first five minutes of Bush’s acceptance speech, I called it a “success.”
I’ve been watching the debate for five minutes now. Despite my partisan inclinations, I have to admit that Kerry has won this debate. And not just [...]

Kerry is already off-topic!
Well-dressed, in a dark suit and burgundy tie, Kerry began answering his first question by talking about the moderator and Florida. Says they have “pluck”…
Kerry talks a lot about “reaching out”, talks vaguely about allies, so far it sounds like his April stuff.
President Bush’s rebuttal also commiserates with Florida, Miami [...]

Well, the 1st Debate starts soon, so I want to toss off a quick pre-meet review of what I think will decide the debate.
#5. Sweat – I think Team Kerry has been working hard to prevent this, but if Kerry sweats, he will look insecure and weak. I don’t expect this to be a [...]

Don’t expect John Kerry to mention Vietnam in the debate. From paragraph ninety-eight of the debate rules:
Neither candidate shall mention the word “Vietnam.” In the event that either candidate utters said word in the course of a debate, the debate shall be concluded immediately and declared forfeit to the third-party candidate.
So, if President Bush mentions [...]

Okay, here are my plans tonight. Below you see a list of questions. Jayson Javitz and Lorie Byrd cannot participate. However Drummond & McClure will bring you a round-up of the debate at its conclusion. Here are the questions we will be addressing.
1. Who did better on style and likability?
2. [...]

Sorry I have been away for a bit, but I’m back and ready for the big night…
The polls going into tonight are excellent. President Bush leads in every single state he carried in 2000. In the blue states, President Bush leads in several and is tied in states like New Jersey. The [...]

Check this out:
September 28, 1996 – Clinton
Layoffs (four-week average of initial jobless claims) = 343,000
Layoffs as a percentage of total workforce = 0.25 percent
September 25, 2004 – Bush 43
Layoffs (four-week average of initial jobless claims) = 343,500
Layoffs as a percentage of total workforce = 0.23 percent
Hmm.
Who would have thunk it?
(Note: historical data on [...]

Check this out:
Real GDP Growth – 1995-1996 – Clinton
1995 – Q1 = 1.1
1995 – Q2 = 0.7
1995 – Q3 = 3.3
1995 – Q4 = 3.0
1996 – Q1 = 2.9
1996 – Q2 = 6.7
Average quarterly rate (annualized) of real GDP growth = 2.95 percent.
On the other hand:
Real GDP Growth – 2003-2004 – Bush 43
2003 – Q1 [...]

A loony-left professor tried to re-forge the forged memos to prove they were genuine! And got caught by the blogosphere!

DebateFacts.com will have live rebuttals from the Bush-Cheney campaign during the debate.

As I’ve been noting the last couple of days, our traffic has increased to the point where we’re crashing our server. That’s why we were down for the last couple of hours.
We’re moving to faster servers; but the site may be unreliable for a day or two, until we complete the move.

Terry McAuliffe has issued instructions for his troops to spend the first 10 minutes following the debate tonight voting in online polls, emailing media outlets and calling talk radio stations to “spin” the outcome. Power Line provided the following text of McAuliffe’s letter:
Tonight, don’t let George Bush’s henchmen steal another victory. We need [...]