Above: 3rd graders debate the Iraq war.
(hat tip: Andrew Sullivan)

Comparisons have been made with this year’s race to 1980, & they’re apt in the sense thatlike Reagan, voters didn’t appear to feel “safer” with Obama until after the debate. Will it have the same outcome? That remains to be seen, of course.
After the jump some commercials Reagan aired that year:

SO sorry about the lack of posts today.. I had to come in late & then deal with the normal newscast I have to put together & then try to find out why my post I filed yesterday about Tactics vs. Strategy in predicting last night’s debate seemingly disappeared.
I’m sure you’ve already read/heard/seen quite a bit of analysis about last night’s debate.. let’s go through my points quickly.
I think McCain did far better in this debate than he did the 1st one. He was far more “approachable” & considerate; he empathized (a la Clinton) with the questioners.. & he definitely appeared more animated in a good way.
I actually think Obama seemed a bit more ‘negative’ in his attacks on McCain, though it’s entirely likely that they were close to the same kinds of attacks as the 1st debate, but drawn into sharper relief in the town hall format.
But John McCain failed to effectively draw blood. He actually made a smart decision not to get down in the gutter, despite the pleas from the right. Doing so would have had him doing far worse. But rather than draw blood, the best he could do was scratches, or even red marks.
All Obama had to do was give off a “presidential” air. & so while he didn’t clearly win the night, he did nothing to change his upward momentum. & he certainly won over quite a few people who before tonight had not seen him discourse for 90 minutes.
Which is bad news for John McCain.
Body language note that I haven’t seen pointed out: there were several times in the debate where John McCain actually walked backwards to his chair & talked at the same time. Think about the visual symbolism that that body language represents. Not a good move.
Those are my initial thoughts.. I’ll try to have more later. What I really want to hear is what you thought of it. So post a comment!
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The film critic says
Biden said, “I know what it’s like to be a single parent raising two children.” He did not know if his sons would survive the auto accident that took his wife and daughter. For a moment, he lost his composure. Looking at the moment again, I believe, as I did at the time, that it was genuine emotion, and not stagecraft. It could not have been anticipated by Palin. The next camera angle was above and behind her. She paused. The silence seemed to anticipate words of sympathy and identification from her. But Biden had ended in a sentence using the word “change,” and her response, reflecting no emotion at all, cued off that word and became a talking point about McCain. This felt to me, at worst, insensitive and callous. At best, that she had not fully heard Biden. In either event, her response troubled me. If a man had responded in that way to such a statement from a women, he would be called a heartless brute.

That award goes to the National Review’s Rich Lowry, whose viewpoint - up until I read this one - I happened to take seriously:
“A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It’s one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O’Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, “Hey, I think she just winked at me.” And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can’t be learned; it’s either something you have or you don’t, and man, she’s got it.”
Someone get that man a cold shower.
Here’s a summary of all the ‘winks’ we saw in the debate Thursday night:
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How did I think it went? See how much my predictions & advice played out after the jump.

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Above: part 1, beginning with opening statements.
After the jump, watch the entire thing. & let me know what you think!
SHOWDOWN FOR THE SENATE
October 26th, 2008, 5:42 pm by Dan LehrAbove: last night’s Georgia Senate debate.
This race is incredibly close.
Of course, I could be wrong.
But if Chambliss wins, remember where you heard it first.
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