I understood what he was trying to do, I just didn't like the way he said it.

I'm leaning towards Baldwin . . .I really dislike Barr. Must do more research . . . may post some links if I find some that are really good.

I'm going to watch it again tomorrow, but what I heard the first time around was that McCain would freeze everything except Defense, Veteran's benefits and "entitlements". I want to hear them actually say "I'm cutting education funding" or "I'm cutting highway funds"

I think what you remember is pretty close. I doubt that's going to ever get said in a debate though by anyone.

I'd be interested to see if the entitlements were limited to Veterans or if it was a general "entitlements" like all entitlement programs.

I just saw this, aw, hey, thanks! I'm honored to be included in that company!

I know whom I will be voting for. I just do not want to make it public until after election day.

It doesn't sound like I missed much by not seeing the debate since I was traveling back from vacation. Not going to bother watching it on YouTube either - I'll just catch up with the VP debate and the other Presidential debates. It was so wonderful to not see campaign ads for 10 days.

For me, it will be Ron Paul or no one at all.

(read: I will get a write-in ballot and put Ron Paul's name on it. If they won't let me do that, buck it! I'll just skip the presidential candidates altogether and vote on the other ballot items).

See, and to me, I think that "freezing" is better than "cutting" because it gives an evaluation period to determine the extent to which the bailout can eventually pay for itself through equity and interest (which is why it was good the first version of the bailout failed - it was by far the worst solution for the government actually earning on their money) without actually permanently losing out on any programs.

Of course, he didn't say that (mostly because he can't say that last sentence, even if it's true).

McCain has given up on Michigan. I'm really pretty surprised, but consider this a victory :) I am hoping this means we won't be bombarded with the pre-recorded phone calls that filled up my voice mails at home and work last time around.

well since McCain's campaign has started on Obama's associations this week

Let me give you 3 names to remember:

Charlie Black,whose lobbying firm represented human rights abusers in the Philippines and Nigeria...AND MCCAIN CHIEF ADVISOR?

Rick Davis a Republican strategist, and co-owners of Davis Manafort Inc., a public relations firm that worked for a Ukrainian political party backed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin..and involved with Freddie Mac, also associated with Oleg Deripaska an organized crime figure who has been denied entry in the US

who is also tied to......

Paul Manafort whose lobby group has taken in millions of dollars in hefty fees from the torturers, human rights abusers, and tyrants they called clients in Nigeria, Kenya, the Philippines.


and let's throw Ted Stevens and John Abramoff in for good measure

I think McCain will take that trade-off. The people you can associate him with are typical associations that you could make to anyone who has been in Washington for a long time. The problem Obama will run into with his associations are that they aren't your typical "damn corrupt Washington" ties, they are non-mainstream radical figures which have the potential to scare some people away from Obama. You play it up as "Wait, maybe he isn't the kind of change we've been waiting for after all, I would never hang out with those nutjobs and I can't imagine anyone who would."

McCain also has the benefit of a degree of seperation. He works with people who work with people who might not be too popular. Obama is friends with and works directly with the nutjobs in his case.

Look at it this way, no matter how many unpopular things McCain advisers have done, none of them put together a group to bomb the Capitol building, got on stage and screamed about conspiracies and "God Damn America!" or helped pay for his house next door to theirs with embezzled funds from deals that McCain helped him get. If Obama legitamizes this campaign tactic by responding in kind he's making a mistake because his connections at least sound worse.

If only it didn't look so let's-talk-about-anything-but-the-economy desperate.

Which is another reason that its a mistake for Obama to respond by going negative as well. "Stop changing the subject" doesn't work nearly as well when you're talking about the same thing, so questioning each others character is directly on point now.